



W^ '^% '^-'^^&. 

>\-.^ 

1 .^w^'^-^.^. 



^ ^ -^ ^'^'Ji:v)>^^ „^ 



i^^ V v> -: 






T 









V^ 



^0^, 






<■= 






,0 



y 



0' 



'' .^^ 






A V 



O V 



^"-^^, 



^A^. -"^^^ ,9^^ .^" ^ 



A> 



^ -,;*.j>^. ^ 






<>. -^o 



<^ 




#' .•■■ 



"oV 




v^ 

'^^ 



,^- 



' .^' 



'•^ 






1^ 














u 



.^^ 



v^. 







V-^^ 










■a? ^ 







T'Y^-", 










-^ Or ° *> 







^oV" 







'^0^ 











A Demonstration of Patriotism as Expressed Throughout the 
United States 
At Independence Hall, on the groiind where, 141 years ago, the fathers of our 
repubhc declared behef in the inahenable right of man to hfe, hberty and the pursuit 
ot happiness, 100,000 citizens of Phihidelphia renewed their oath of allegiance to 
the Constitution and pledged loyal support in any action necessary to the protection 
of Anaerican rights upon land and sea. 



AMERICA AND THE 
GREAT WAR FOR 
HUMANITY AND FREEDOM 



BY 

WILLIS FLETCHER JOHNSON, A.M., L.H.D. 

Honorary Professor of the History of American Foreign Relations in 
New York University; 

AUTHOR OF 

'America's Foreign Relations," "A Century of Expansion," Etc., Etc. 



ILLUSTRATED 

WITH MORE THAN 100 PLANS, MAPS, 
DIAGRAMS, DRAWINGS AND REPRO- 
DUCTIONS OF PHOTOGRAPHS 



Philadelphia 

THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY 

Publishers 






Copyright, 1917, by 
L. T. Myers 



in 



srz 



m I9l9f7 

^C|,A467486 



To 

Our Allies 



Author's Note 
Portions of some chapters of this work have hith- 
erto been printed in signed articles by the author 
in The New York Tribune, The Boston Evening 
Transcript, and The Newark News, to which jour- 
nals grateful acknowledgments are made. 



PREFACE 

IT IS MY PURPOSE in this volume to give an account of 
the entry of America into the War of the Nations. I shall 
relate the histories of some of the chief belligerents suffi- 
ciently to indicate the trend of their policies toward those 
conditions and complications which afforded pretexts for the 
war; and the history of the war itself sufficiently to make 
clear the manner in which it was begun and the manner in 
which it has been waged. In this we shall see not only the 
abundant justification but also the imperative necessity of 
our participation in the conflict. 

I shall endeavor to give some account of the military and 
other potency of the various belligerent nations, and of the 
resources upon which they rely for support in the struggle; 
of the disregard of law and humanity which has character- 
ized the conduct of the war; of its unparalleled and almost 
incredible destructiveness, much of it wanton and malicious; 
and of the transcendent world-wide issues which are at 
stake. ' 

I shall give much attention to the army and navy estab- 
lishments of the United States and the details of their 
organization and operation; to the gross lack of adequate 
preparedness from which we suffered at the time of our 
entry into the war, due to our fatuous disregard of the 
admonitions of the founders of the Republic and our aban- 
donment of the wise and prudent policy which they enun- 
ciated; and to the vital need of our promptly awakening 
to a realization of what it means to be engaged in a world- 
wide war in which the integrity and the very lives of nations, 
including our own, are at stake. 

5^ 



PREFACE 



I shall also attempt to show how crucial was the situation 
in Europe at the ''psychological moment" of our declara- 
tion of war, and how truly at that time the fate of humanity 
seemed to be hanging upon our decision and our action; 
and how momentous for ourselves and for others was the 
action of our government in accepting the hostile challenge 
of the German Empire. 

Concerning the magnitude of the theme there can be no 
question. The war which was begun by the Teutonic 
powers in the summer of 1914 brought the world face to 
face with what is probably the greatest crisis in its whole 
history. We might compare it with the Punic wars, which 
decided whether Rome or Carthage should rule the Medi- 
terranean and its shores; with the Greek and Persian wars, 
which determined whether European or Asiatic civilization 
should be dominant; with the Fall of Rome; with the 
Mohammedan conquests and the Crusades; with the Napo- 
leonic wars. But not one of these approximated the physical 
magnitude of this War of the Nations, or its moral and 
spiritual importance to the future of the whole human race. 

For the first time in our history, all the highest material 
and intellectual resources of civilization are arrayed in an 
effort to subvert and to destroy the moral and spiritual 
fruits of human progress. The drunken helot of Sparta is 
invested with all the arts of Athens. To such a conflict 
are we called, to declare, as truly as in 1776, that states 
and peoples have a right to independent government of 
their own choice; and to see to it, as truly as in 1863, that 
"government of the people, by the people, for the people, 
shall not perish from the earth." 

W. F. J. 
New York, May, 1917. 



CONTENTS 

Introduction page 

"ARGUMENTUM AD HUMANITATEM" 9 

Prologue 
"THE BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC" 15 

Chapter I 
THE CALL TO RIGHTEOUS BATTLE 17 

Chapter II 
ANTECEDENTS OF THE WORLD WAR 31 

Chapter III 
THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD OF THE WORLD 41 

Chapter IV 
STORY OF THE CENTRAL POWERS 69 

Chapter V 
THE STORY OF RUSSIA 91 

Chapter VI 
THE ALLIED POWERS 110 

Chapter VII 
WAR POWERS OF EUROPE IN 1914 119 

Chapter VIII 

THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR , 128 

5 



CONTENTS 



Chapter IX page 

THE WAR IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS 140 

Chapter X 
THE WAR IN THE EAST 149 

Chapter XI 
COLONIAL CONQUESTS 163 

Chapter XII 
THE WAR AT SEA 169 

Chapter XIII 
THE WAR IN THE AIR 183 

Chapter XIV 
THE SINEWS OF WAR 193 

Chapter XV 
GERMAN RELATIONS WITH AMERICA 203 

Chapter XVI 
THE TRIBULATIONS OF A NEUTRAL POWER 212 

Chapter XVII 
FUTILE EFFORTS FOR PEACE 223 

Chapter XVIII 
AMERICA AS A BELLIGERENT 233 

Chapter XIX 

OUR RESOURCES; ACTUAL AND POTENTIAL 238 

6 



CONTENTS 

Chapter XX page 

OUR MILITARY GEOGRAPHY 249 

Chapter XXI 
THE MEANING OF THE WAR 259 

Chapter XXII 
OUR RELATIONS WITH THE ALLIES 268 

Chapter XXIII 
PAN-AMERICA AND OTHERS 281 

Chapter XXIV 
HOW MODERN WARS ARE WAGED 289 

Chapter XXV 
WOMEN AND WAR WORK , 302 

Chapter XXVI 
ARMY AND NAVY ORGANIZATION 312 

Chapter XXVII 
UNIVERSAL MILITARY SERVICE 327 

Chapter XXVIII 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE IN THE WAR 338 

Chapter XXIX 
THE FLAG AND ITS ANTHEM 345 

Epilogue 
"THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER" 352 

7 



INTRODUCTION 

Hrgumentum ab IHumanftatem 

il MERICAN intervention in the War of the Nations 

A^L was most timely, and most untimely. That is a 
paradox that is in both its statements entirely true 
and pertinent. 

It was timely and something more, so far as the needs of 
the Allies were concerned, for they were approaching peril- 
ously near to the limit of their strength and their endur- 
ance. The greatness of their need and the imminence of 
their peril were not generally understood, or known. It 
was not the policy of governments to pubhsh all the facts 
of their extremities and distresses to the world. But though 
unpubHshed, the grim facts were there. For the third 
time a psychological moment had come, and the cry "Help, 
or we perish!" was heard. 

The first such occasion was at the very beginning, when 
Belgium with almost godlike heroism and sacrifice with- 
stood for a little space the German onset, holding out in 
sheer desperation for a few days until France could mobilize 
her forces. Then Belgium broke, and the burden of the 
day fell upon France. 

The second was when, after the immortal Marne, the 
raUied armies of France "against great odds bare up the 
war" until England could be aroused from her non-militarist 
lethargy and could be brought to the aid of France. Not 
Leonidas at Thermopylae was more resolute than France 
when she said of the Hunnish hordes, "They shall not pass." 

The third came when the allied hosts of France and Eng- 

9 



INTRODUCTION 



land were threatened with exhaustion, not of valor but of 
supplies; and all they could do was to hold on grimly until 
we could come to their relief. They could fight. But they 
could not continue fighting without supphes, and those 
supplies must largely come from America, and with such 
coming the submarine pirates of Germany were ominously 
interfering. 

In spite of all that the Allies could do, the submarines 
were destroying their commerce far faster than they could 
replace it by building or by purchase. The losses amounted 
to hundreds of thousands of tons in a single week. At that 
rate even the gigantic mercantile marine of England would 
in a not long time be so depleted as to be quite insufficient 
for the carrying trade; and when thus supplies failed, the 
Allies would have to succumb. That was the condition 
with which the Allies were confronted at the beginning of 
April, 1917. 

The question has been asked, why the Allies did not use 
submarines, too, to counteract the German use of them. 
The answer is simple. There was nothing for them to be 
used against. Germany had no commercial marine at sea, 
and her fighting navy was fenced and screened in inland 
waters. She had no vessels at sea except the submarines, 
and they were practically immune against the attacks of 
others of the same kind. Submarines cannot efiiciently 
fight other submarines. There was thus nothing to do but 
to endure their losses as best they could, in earnest hope 
that America w^ould come to their relief and rescuebefore 
those losses became so great as to be fatal. 

France had been performing miracles of heroism for two 
years and a half. But she could not keep on forever. Her 
population was little more than half that of her chief adver- 
sary, and her store of manhood on which she could draw 
10 



INTRODUCTION 



was correspondingly less. By the spring of 1917 she was 
feeling the strain and the drain almost to desperation. She 
was in need of our help, even more than we had been in 
need of hers in the dark days of the Revolution. 

Italy was practically at a standstill. For months her 
armies had made no advance, so that it was possible to 
withdraw many Teutonic troops from that front for service 
in Northern France. 

Russia, after a long period of inactivity, had plunged 
into an anti-dynastic revolution. From one point of view, 
that was a great gain for the Allies, for it checked the 
German propaganda and meddhng which had during much 
of the war thus far been costly and at times disastrous to 
the Russian arms. Also, the example of the Russian 
democracy expelling the imperial dynasty and establishing 
a popular government had some effect upon the German 
proletariat and incited talk and agitation for radical reforms 
and even of a revolution in that country. On the other 
hand, it for the time greatly weakened the Russian mihtary 
aggressive, and left the Russian armies for a time so nearly 
a negligible a quantity that the Germans felt safe in trans- 
ferring hundreds of thousands of troops from the eastern 
to the western frontier. 

Great Britain was at the height of her power on land, and 
was maintaining her power at sea in all respects excepting 
against the elusive submarines. But she was of all the 
belligerents most dependent upon lands across the sea for 
the supplies which were essential not only to efficiency 
in the field but also to life itself. Already the pinch of 
restricted food supplies was felt, reserves w^ere much 
depleted, and the nation felt that it was living practically 
from hand to mouth. The stoppage of supplies, or even 
the considerable reduction of them, would be disastrous. 

11 



INTRODUCTION 



Indeed, not since the German drive at Paris was checked 
at the Marne had there been so ominous an outlook for the 
aUied powers, or had the possibihty of German victory 
been so great. It was in such a time of trial and almost of 
desperation that America projected herself into the war, 
with the immediate contribution of vast sums of money, 
with the promise of ships and troops a little later — at the 
middle of May American destroyers were cooperating with 
the British navy in the North Sea and American soldiers 
were on their way to France — and with the incalculable 
moral encouragement that such adherence afforded. It 
was timely, indeed, from the European point of view, and 
was thus recognized and gratefully acclaimed by the AlHes. 
As for Germany, she was obviously much perturbed; she 
realized how heavy a weight had been thrown into the scale 
against her. But she assumed to regard it lightly, and even 
refused to recognize the United States as a belligerent 
against her. 

The declaration of war was, on the other hand, most 
untimely for the United States itself. That was because 
of our condition of gross unreadiness. For years, and 
especially ever since the outbreak of the war, thoughtful 
and far-seeing men had been preaching the gospel of pre- 
paredness, but to httle avail. The government itself set 
its face like a flint against it. "We have not been unmind- 
ful of our defenses," it said. "We are not unready. If the 
President called for a million men at daybreak, they would 
all be in the ranks by sunset." 

With such siren songs America had lulled herself to sleep 
while all the world around her was in flames. The govern- 
ment made no preparations for war, nor even any plans for 
preparation. The result was that after the declaration of 
war there was deplorable and costly delay in preparing our 
12 



INTRODUCTION 



military establishment. It was not until after the middle 
of May, nearly six weeks after the declaration, that Congress 
agreed upon a law^ for the increase of the army by conscrip- 
tion. But even then the Secretary of War announced that 
while the conscription would be held on June 5, there would 
be no summoning of the men to the colors before about the 
first of September, because of lack of supplies for their 
equipment. That is to say, after nearly three years' warn- 
ing we were so unready for war that nearly five months 
must elapse after our declaration of war before we could so 
much as send recruits to training camps to begin their prep- 
aration for service on the battle front. The event was as 
untimely for us as it was timely for our allies. 

Nevertheless, it was inevitable; and it was well that it 
was precipitated upon us even in all our unreadiness. That 
is because without it we should never have taken a single 
effective step toward getting ready. It needed the rude 
shock of war to rouse the government and the people to a 
realization of their necessities, to a realization of the fact 
that "It's war we're in, not politics." In fact, even the 
declaration of war was scarcely sufiicient to bring that real- 
ization home to all. It was said, and truly, that England 
did not fully realize that she was at war with Germany so 
long as the fighting was confined to France and Flanders. 
It was not until German cruisers bombarded unfortified 
residence villages along the coast, and German Zeppelins 
dropped incendiary and murderous bombs upon defenseless 
towns and cities, that the nation was fully roused. No 
such shock as that was given to America, and the popular 
recognition of the state of war was consequently less prompt 
and less keen. 

But the realization grew, and became suflSciently clear to 
the majority of the people, and then preparation for the 

13 



INTRODUCTION 



strife was pressed with expedition and with inexorable 
resolution. Even late in May, 1917, the danger was not 
wholly past. The most judicious and informed men per- 
ceived that there was still a possibihty that Germany 
might win the war with her piratical submarines before 
America would be able to make her power felt. A year 
before Mr. Lloyd George was lamenting that in so many 
things England had been "Too late; always too late!" 
The balance quivered on the turning of a hair to decide 
whether our entry into the war was too late or was just in 
time. ^ 

It was evident that to make it just in time and not too 
late, the American nation must send men and ships to 
Europe as quickly as possible; that it must organize and 
operate a gigantic system of ocean transportation of sup- 
plies; and that it must so conserve its food supphes as to 
be able to feed its allies as well as itself for a year or two 
years to come. These were the conditions on which haply 
we could hope to avoid having the war transferred from 
Flanders and Picardy to our own Atlantic httoral. 

It was the psychological moment for America to intervene 
in the war. It was the psychological moment for every 
American to intervene with all his individual, personal 
might, to help the nation and its allies to win a victory 
commensurate in magnitude with the magnitude of the war 
itself; a victory for humanity as great as is the menace to 
humanity in the arrogant challenge of the Huns. 



14 



PROLOGUE 



THE BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC 

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; 

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are 

stored; 
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword; 
His truth is marching on. 

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling 

camps; 
They have huilded Him an altar in the evening dews and 

damps; 
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring 

lamps. 

His day is marching on. 

I have read a fiery gospel, writ in burnished rows of steel; 
"As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall 

deal; 
Let the hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel. 
Since God is marching on.'^ 

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; 
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat; 
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet! 
Our God is marching on. 

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea. 
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me; 
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, 
While God is marching on. 

15 



Chapter I 
THE CALL TO RIGHTEOUS BATTLE 

Another Great Event in April, the Month of Great Events — A Memorable 
Session of Congress — The President's Address CaUing for a Declaration of War 
with Germany — His Review of the Train of Events and Grievances which had 
Led to that Necessity — A War to be Waged for no Selfish Purpose, but for 
Humanity and for the Freedom of the World — Full Text of a Memorable Message 
— Its Favorable Reception by Congress and the Nation — How It was Regarded 
in Foreign Lands — Prompt Action by Congress in Adopting a Resolution Declar- 
ing that Germany had Begun War Against Us — The President's Proclamation 
of Our Entry into the World War. 

IT WAS April, the most famous month in American 
History. It was in April, 1135, that the Norsemen 
discovered Greenland on their way to the pre-Columbian 
discovery of America, and it was in April, 1492, that 
Columbus was recalled to the Spanish Court and was 
commissioned to sail upon his epoch-making voyage. 
It was in that same month, the "Month of Openings," 
that Ponce de Leon landed in Florida; that Cortez began 
the conquest of Mexico; that the Virginia colony was 
chartered; that Henry Hudson began the voyage in which 
he discovered the river which bears his name; that the 
Plymouth Pilgrims received their patent; that La Salle 
took possession of the Mississippi Valley for France; 
that the French and Indian War was begun; that taxation 
of the Colonies by Parliament without their representa- 
tion was first proposed. It was in April that our Revolution 
began at Lexington, Concord and Boston; that the 
American navy took its first prize in war; that Lafayette 
landed on our shores; that Arnold began his treason; 
2 17 



THE CALL TO RIGHTEOUS BATTLE 

that the first American man-of-war was built; that the 
British Government sent peace commissioners to meet 
our own; that George HI ratified the treaty of peace with 
America, and that the ending of the War for Independence 
was proclaimed. It was in April that Washington designed 
the Stars and Stripes, and that the flag in its present form 
was first displayed. It was in April that Washington 
was elected and inaugurated President; that Louisiana 
was purchased; that the United States Mint was estab- 
lished; that the Mexican War was begun; that the Civil 
War was begun, and ended; that the Spanish War was 
begun and that the treaty of peace at its end was pro- 
claimed. It was in April that Putnam, Jefferson, Monroe, 
Clay and Grant were born, and that Lincoln suffered 
martyrdom. : 

It was the latest April in our history, in the year of our 
era 1917, and the second day of the month. Woodrow 
Wilson had less than a month before been installed as 
President of the United States for a second term. He 
had severed diplomatic relations with the German Empire, 
because of its atrocious and intolerable disregard of our 
rights and of the rights of humanity in the war which for 
two and a half years had been convulsing the continent 
of Europe; and he had called the newly elected Congress 
together in special session to consider what further steps 
were necessary for the safeguarding of American citizens 
and the vindication of the honor of the nation. 

Washington was thronged with interested citizens of 
eminence and influence from all parts of the country. 
The streets were crowded with spectators as the President, 
accompanied by a glittering cavalcade of guards, passed 
from the White House to the Capitol on one of the most 
momentous errands ever undertaken by an American 
18 




WooDRow Wilson 
Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States 




Theodore Roosevelt 
Former President of the United States, who offered to raise and lead a large 

army to France. 



THE CALL TO RIGHTEOUS BATTLE 

Chief of State. The great hall of the House of Repre- 
sentatives was thronged with a brilliant company — the 
two Houses of Congress on the floor and diplomats, 
officials of civil and military service, and citizens, in the 
galleries — as at half-past eight the President stepped upon 
the Speaker's platform, and voiced the demand of the 
American nation for a war for the freedom of the world. 
This is what he said : 

THE president's WAR MESSAGE 

I have called the Congress into extraordinary session because there 
are serious, very serious, choices of policy to be made, and made 
immediately, which it was neither right nor constitutionally permis- 
sible that I should assume the responsibility of making. 

On the 3d of February last I officially laid before you the extraor- 
dinary announcement of the Imperial German Government, that 
on and after the 1st day of February it was its purpose to put aside 
all restraints of law or of humanity and use its submarines to sink 
every vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain 
and Ireland or the western coasts of Europe, or any of the ports con- 
trolled by the enemies of Germany within the Mediterranean. 

That had seemed to be the object of the German submarine war- 
fare earlier in the war, but since April of last year the imperial govern- 
ment had somewhat restrained the commanders of its under-sea craft, 
in conformity with its promise then given to us that passenger boats 
should not be sunk, and that due warning would be given to all other 
vessels which its submarines might seek to destroy, when no resistance 
was offered or escape attempted, and care taken that their crews were 
given at least a fair chance to save their lives in their open boats. 
The precautions taken were meagre and haphazard enough, as was 
proved in distressing instance after instance in the progress of the 
cruel and unmanly business, but a certain degree of restraint was 
observed. 

FINAL INDICTMENT OF GERMAN FRIGHTFULNESS 

The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of every 
kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their destina- 

19 



THE CALL TO RIGHTEOUS BATTLE 

tion, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom without 
warning and without thought of help or mercy for those on board, 
the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of belligerents. Even 
hospital ships and ships carrying relief to the sorely bereaved and 
stricken people of Belgium, though the latter were provided with safe 
conduct through the prescribed areas by the German Government 
itself, and were distinguished by unmistakable marks of identity, have 
been sunk with the same reckless lack of compassion or of principle. 
I was for a little while unable to believe that such things would in 
fact be done by any government that had hitherto subscribed to the 
humane practices of civilized nations. International law had its origin 
in the attempt to set up some law, which would be respected and 
observed upon the seas, where no nation had right of dominion and 
where lay the free highways of the world. By painful stage after 
stage has that law been built up, with meagre enough results, indeed, 
after all was accomplished that could be accomplished, but always 
with a clear view at least of what the heart and conscience of mankind 
demanded. 

BECAUSE IT HAD NO WEAPONS BUT THESE 

This minimum of right the German Government has swept aside 
under the plea of retaliation and necessity, and because it had no 
weapons which it could use at sea except these, which it is impossible 
to employ as it is employing them without throwing to the winds all 
scruples of humanity or of respect for the miderstandings that were 
supposed to underlie the intercourse of the world. 

I am not now thinking of the loss of property involved, immense 
and serious as that is, but only of the wanton and wholesale destruction 
of the lives of non-combatants, men, women and children, engaged 
in pursuits which have always, even in the darkest periods of modern 
history, been deemed innocent and legitimate. Property can be paid 
for; the lives of peaceful and innocent people cannot be. 

GERMAN WARFARE IS AGAINST MANKIND 

The present German warfare against commerce is a warfare against 
mankind. It is a war against all nations. American ships have been 
sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very deeply 
to learn of, but the ships and people of other neutral and friendly 
20 



THE CALL TO RIGHTEOUS BATTLE 

nations have been sunk and overwhelmed in the waters in the same 
way. There has been no discrimination. The challenge is to all 
mankind. Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet it. 
The choice we make for ourselves must be made with a moderation 
of counsel and a temperateness of judgment befitting our character 
and our motives as a nation. We must put excited feeling away. 
Our motive will not be revenge or the victorious assertion of the physical 
might of the nation, but only the vindication of right, of human right, 
of which we are only a single champion. 

IT NOW APPEAES ARMED NEUTRALITY IS IMPRACTICABLE 

When I addressed the Congress on the 26th of February last 
I thought that it would suffice to assert our neutral rights with 
arms, our right to use the seas against unlawful interference, our right 
to keep our people safe against unlawful violence. But armed neu- 
trality, it now appears, is impracticable. 

Because submarines are in effect outlaws when used as the German 
submarines have been used, against merchant shipping, it is impos- 
sible to defend ships against their attacks, as the law of nations has 
assumed that merchantmen would defend themselves against pri- 
vateers or cruisers, visible craft giving chase upon the open sea. It 
is common prudence in such circumstances — grim necessity, indeed — 
to endeavor to destroy them before they have shown their own inten- 
tion. They must be dealt with upon sight, if dealt with at all. 

The German Government denies the right of neutrals to use arms at 
all within the areas of the sea which it has proscribed, even in the 
defense of rights which no modern publicist has ever before questioned 
their right to defend. The intimation is conveyed that the armed 
guards which we have placed on om^ merchant ships will be treated 
as beyond the pale of law and subject to be dealt with as pirates would be. 

Armed neutrality is ineffectual enough at best; in such circum- 
stances and in the face of such pretensions it is worse than ineffectual; 
it is likely to produce what it was meant to prevent; it is practically 
certain to draw us into the war without either the rights or the effec- 
tiveness of belligerents. 

THERE IS ONE CHOICE WE CANNOT MAKE 

There is one choice we cannot make, we are incapable of making: 
We will not choose the path of submission and suffer the most sacred 

21 



THE CALL TO RIGHTEOUS BATTLE 

rights of our nation and our people to be ignored or violated. The 
\\Tongs against which we now array ourselves are not common wrongs; 
they cut to the veiy roots of human life. 

IN FACT NOTHING LESS THAN WAR 

With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character 
of the step I am taking and of the grave responsibilities which it involves, 
but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my constitutional duty, 
I advise that the Congress declare the recent course of the Imperial 
German Government to be in fact nothing less than war against the 
government and people of the United States; that it formally accept 
the status of belligerent which has thus been thrust upon it, and that 
it take immediate steps not only to put the country in a more thor- 
ough state of defense, but also to exert all its power and employ all 
its resources to bring the government of the German Empire to terms 
and end the war. 

WHAT THIS WILL INVOLVE IS CLEAR 

What this will involve is clear. It will involve the utmost practicable 
cooperation in counsel and action with the goveniments now at war 
with Germany, and, as incident to that, the extension to those govern- 
ments of the most liberal financial credits in order that our resources 
may, so far as possible, be added to theirs. 

It will involve the organization and mobilization of all the material 
resources of the country to supply the materials of war and serve the 
incidental needs of the nation in the most abundant and yet the most 
economical and efficient way possible. 

It will involve the immediate full equipment of the navy in all 
respects, but particularly in supplying it with the best means of 
dealing with the enemy's submarines. It will involve the immediate 
addition to the armed forces of the United States, already provided 
for by law in case of war, at least 500,000 men, who should, in my 
opinion, be chosen upon the principle of universal liability to service; 
and also the authorization of subsequent additional increments of 
equal force so soon as they may be needed and can be handled in 
training. 

It will involve also, of course, the granting of adequate credits to 
the government, sustained, I hope, so far as they can equitably be 
22 



THE CALL TO RIGHTEOUS BATTLE 

sustained by the present generation, by well-conceived taxation. 
I say sustained so far as may be by equitable taxation because it seems 
to me that it would be most unwise to base the credits which will now 
be necessary entirely on money borrowed. It is our duty, I most 
respectfully urge, to protect our people so far as we may against the 
very serious hardships and evils which would be likely to arise out 
of the inflation which would be produced by vast loans. 

MUST NOT INTERFERE WITH ALLIED MUNITIONS 

In cariymg out the measures by which these things are to be accom- 
plished we should keep constantly in mind the wisdom of interfering 
as Uttle as possible in our own preparation and in the equipment of 
our own military forces with the duty — for it will be a very practical 
duty — of supplying the nations already at war with Germany with 
the materials which they can obtain only from us or by our assistance. 
They are in the field, and we should help them in every way to be 
effective there. 

I shall take the liberty of suggesting, through the several executive 
departments of the government, for the consideration of your com- 
mittees measures for the accompUshment of the several objects I have 
mentioned. I hope that it will be your pleasure to deal with them as 
having been framed after very careful thought by the branch of the 
government upon which the responsibility of conducting the war and 
safeguarding the nation will most directly fall. 

WHILE WE DO THESE THINGS 

While we do these things, these deeply momentous things, let us be 
very clear, and make very clear to all the world what our motives and 
our objects are. My own thought has not been driven from its habitual 
and normal course by the unhappy events of the last two months, 
and I do not believe that the thought of the nation has been altered 
or clouded by them. 

I have exactly the same thing in mind now that I had in mind when 
I addressed the Senate on the 22d of January last; the same that I 
had in mind when I addressed the Congress on the 3d of February 
and on the 26th of February. Our object now, as then, is to vindicate 
the principles of peace and the justice in the life of the world as against 
selfish and autocratic power and to set up among the really free and 

23 



THE CALL TO RIGHTEOUS BATTLE 

self-governed peoples of the world such a concert of purpose and of 
action as will henceforth insure the observance of those principles. 

ONE MORALITY FOR NATIONS AND PERSONS 

Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the 
world is involved and the freedom of its peoples, and the menace to 
that peace and freedom lies in the existence of autocratic govern- 
ments backed by organized force which is controlled wholly by their 
will, not by the will of their people. We have seen the last of neutrality 
in such circumstances. '-• 

We are at the beginning of an age in which it will be insisted 
that the same standards of conduct and of responsibility for 
wrong done shall be observed among nations and their govern- 
ments that are observed among the individual citizens of civilized 
states. 

WE HAVE NO QUARREL WITH THE GERMAN PEOPLE 

We have no quarrel with the German people. We have no feeling 
toward them but one of sympathy and friendship. It was not upon 
their impulse that their government acted in entering this war. It 
was not with their previous knowledge or approval. 

It was a war determined upon as wars used to be determined upon 
in the old unhappy days when peoples were nowhere consulted by their 
rulers and wars were provoked and waged in the interest of dynasties 
or of little groups of ambitious men who were accustomed to use their 
fellowmen as pawns and tools. 

Self-governed nations do not fill their neighbor states with spies or 
set the course of intrigue to bring about some critical posture of affairs 
which will give them an opportunity to strike and make conquest. 
Such designs can be successfully worked only under cover and where 
no one has the right to ask questions. 

Cunningly contrived plans of deception or aggression, carried, 
it may be, from generation to generation, can be worked out 
and kept from the Ught only within the privacy of courts or 
behind the carefully guarded confidences of a narrow and priv- 
ileged class. They are happily impossible where public opinion 
commands and insists upon full information concerning all the nation's 
affairs. 
24 



THE CALL TO RIGHTEOUS BATTLE 

IT MUST BE A LEAGUE OF HONOR 

A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except by a 
partnership of democratic nations. No autocratic government could 
be trusted to keep faith within it or observe its covenants. 

It must be a league of honor, a partnership of opinion. Intrigue 
would eat its vitals away; the plottings of inner circles who could 
plan what they would and render account to no one would be a cor- 
ruption seated at its very heart. 

Only free peoples can hold their purpose and their honor steady to 
a common end and prefer the interests of mankind to any narrow interest 
of their own. 

HERB IS A FIT PARTNER 

Does not every American feel that assurance has been added to our 
hope for the future peace of the world by the wonderful and heartening 
things that have been happening within the last few weeks in Russia? 

Russia was known by those who knew it best to have been always 
in fact democratic at heart, in all the vital habits of her thought, in all 
the intimate relationships of her people that spoke for their natural 
instinct, their habitual attitude toward life. 

Autocracy that crowned the summit of her political structure, long 
as it had stood and terrible as was the reality of its power, was not in 
fact Russian in origin, in character or purpose, and now it has been 
shaken, and the great, generous Russian people have been added in all 
their native majesty and might to the forces that are fighting for 
freedom in the world, for justice and for peace. Here is a fit partner 
for a league of honor. 

SPIES WERE HERE BEFORE THE WAR BEGAN 

One of the things that have served to convince us that the Prussian 
autocracy was not and could never be our friend is that from the very 
outset of the present war it has filled our unsuspecting communities 
and even our offices of government with spies and set criminal intrigues 
everywhere afoot against our national unity of council, our peace 
within and without, our industries and our commerce. 

Indeed, it is now evident that its spies were here even before the 
war began; and it is unhappily not a matter of conjecture, but a fact 
proved in our courts of justice, that the intrigues, which have more 

25 



THE CALL TO RIGHTEOUS BATTLE 

than once come perilously near to disturbing the peace and dislocating 
the industries of the country, have been carried on at the instigation, 
with the support, and even under the personal direction, of official 
agents of the imperial government accredited to the government of 
the United States. 

Even in checking these things and trying to extirpate them we have 
sought to put the most generous interpretation possible upon them, 
because we knew that their source lay, not in any hostile feeling or 
purpose of the German people toward us (who were, no doubt, as 
ignorant of them as we ourselves were), but only in the selfish designs 
of a government that did what it pleased and told its people nothing. 
But they have played their part in serving to convince us at last that 
that government entertains no real friendship for us, and means to 
act against our peace and security at its convenience. 

FOR THE ULTIMATE PEACE OF THE WORLD 

That it means to stir up enemies against us at our very doors the 
intercepted note to the German Minister at Mexico City is eloquent 
evidence. 

We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because we know 
that in such a government, following such methods, we can never have 
a friend, and that in the presence of its organized power, always lying 
in wait to accompUsh we know not what purpose, there can be no 
assured security for the democratic governments of the world. 

We are now about to accept gage of battle with this natural foe to 
liberty and shall, if necessary, spend the whole force of the nation to 
check and nullify its pretensions and its power. We are glad, now that 
we see the facts with no veil of false pretence about them, to fight 
thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its 
peoples, the German peoples included, for the rights of nations great 
and small, and the privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of 
life and of obedience. 

The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be 
planted upon the trusted foundations of political liberty. 

We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. 
We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for 
the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions 
of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights 
26 



THE CALL TO RIGHTEOUS BATTLE 

have been as secure as the faith and the freedom of the nation can make 
them. 

Just because we fight without rancor and without selfish objects, 
seeking nothing for ourselves but what we shall wish to share with all 
free peoples, we shall, I feel confident, conduct our operations us bel- 
ligerents without passion and ourselves observe with proud punctilio 
the principles of right and of fair play we profess to be fighting for. 

WILL DEAL WITH AUSTRIA LATER 

I have said nothing of the governments allied with the imperial 
government of Germany, because they have not made war upon us or 
challenged us to defend our right and our honor. The Austro- 
Hungarian Government has, indeed, avowed its unqualified endorse- 
ment and acceptance of the reckless and lawless submarine warfare 
adopted now without disguise by the imperial government, and it 
has therefore not been possible for this government to receive Count 
Tarnowski, the ambassador recently accredited to this government 
by the imperial and royal government of Austria-Hungary, but that 
government has not actually engaged in warfare against citizens of 
the United States on the seas, and I take the liberty, for the present 
at least, of postponing a discussion of our relations with the author- 
ities at Vienna. We enter this war only where we are clearly forced 
into it because there are no other means of defending our rights. 

BECAUSE WE ACT WITHOUT ANIMUS 

It will be all the easier for us to conduct ourselves as belligerents 
in a high spirit of right and fairness because we act without animus, 
not in enmity toward a people or with the desire to bring any injury 
or disadvantage upon them, but only in armed opposition to an irre- 
sponsible government which has thrown aside all considerations of 
humanity and of right and is running amuck. 

We are, let me say again, the sincere friends of the German people, 
and shall desire nothing so much as the early re-establishment of intimate 
relations of mutual advantage between us — however hard it may be 
for them, for the time being, to believe that this is spoken from our 
hearts. We have borne with their present government through all 
these bitter months because of that friendship — exercising a patience 
and forbearance which would otherwise have been impossible. 

27 



THE CALL TO RIGHTEOUS BATTLE 

THE MILLIONS OF GERMAN BIRTH WHO LIVE AMONG US 

We shall, happily, still have an opportunity to prove that friend- 
ship in our daily attitude and actions toward the millions of men and 
women of German birth and native sympathy who live amongst u'' 
and share our life, and we shall be proud to prove it toward all who 
are in fact loyal to their neighbors and to the government in the hour 
of test. They are, most of them, as true and loyal Americans as if 
they had never known any other fealty or allegiance. They will be 
prompt to stand with us in rebuking and restraining the few who may 
be of a different mind and purpose. 

IF THERE SHOULD BE DISLOYALTY 

If there should be disloyalty it will be dealt with with a firm hand 
of stern repression; but if it lifts its head at all, it will lift it only here 
and there, and without countenance, except from a lawless and 
malignant few. 

It is a distressing and oppressive duty, gentlemen of the Congress, 
which I have performed in thus addressing you. There are, it may 
be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful 
thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible 
and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the 
balance. 

But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for 
the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts — for 
democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a 
voice in their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small 
nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free 
peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the 
world itself at last free. 

PRIVILEGED TO SPEND HER BLOOD 

To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, every- 
thing that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those 
who know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend 
her blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and 
happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, 
she can do no other. 
28 



THE CALL TO RIGHTEOUS BATTLE 

This address was received with extraordinary expres- 
sions of approval by the members of Congress present 
and by the occupants of the galleries. The press and 
public of America, with almost unprecedented unanimity 
hailed it with grateful satisfaction. It was similarly 
received in Great Britain, France, and the other allied 
nations of Europe, and also in South America, where 
Brazil and other powers immediately began considering 
the question of following the example of the United States 
in declaring war against the arch-foe of democracy and 
of humanity. 

In Germany the fuU text of the address was withheld 
by the censorship from general circulation. Among the 
government officials it caused a mingling of rage and fear, 
the latter passion being but ill-concealed. There was at 
first an attempt made to pretend that it did not matter, 
that the United States would be a negligible quantity in 
the war; but such words rang hollow, and the real thought 
of official Germany was that fearful odds were being cast 
against the Central Powers by the entrance of America 
into the fray. 

PROMPT ACTION OF CONGRESS 

Immediately upon the conclusion of the President's 
address a resolution declaring war against Germany, 
or rather accepting the war which Germany had already 
begun against the United States, was introduced into both 
Houses of Congress. Brief debates followed, in which 
very few members ventured to oppose what was known 
to be the overwhelming will of the people. In the Senate 
one day's delay was caused by the opposition of Senator 
La FoUette, of Wisconsin, but late on the evening of 
April 4th the resolution was adopted by a vote of 82 to 6. 

29 



THE CALL TO RIGHTEOUS BATTLE 

The next day the House took it up, and before morning 
of April 6th adopted it by a vote of 373 to 50. 

At eleven minutes after one o'clock on the afternoon 
of April 6th — Good Friday — the President affixed his signa- 
ture to the resolution, and that moment marked the 
official entrance of the United States into the World War. 

TEXT OF THE WAR ACT 

The resolution declaring the war which Germany had 
forced upon us was as follows: 

Whereas, The Imperial German Government has com- 
mitted repeated acts of war against the government and the 
people of the United States of America; therefore, be it 

Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, 
that the state of war between the United States and the Imperial 
German Government, which has thus been thrust upon the 
United States is hereby formally declared; and that the 
President be, and he is hereby authorized and directed to 
employ the entire naval and military forces of the United 
States and the resources of the government to carry on war 
against the Imperial German Government; and to bring the 
conflict to a successful termination all of the resources of the 
country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United 
States. 

Immediately after affixing his signature to the war 
resolution, the President issued a proclamation announcing 
the same, calling upon all American citizens to give their 
loyal support to the government and the laws, and pre- 
scribing and establishing various rules and regulations 
concerning the conduct and disposition of alien enemies 
found within the jurisdiction of the United States. 
30 



Chapter II 
ANTECEDENTS OF THE WORLD WAR 

Pretexts and Causes — Ancient Inter-Racial Rivalries and Conflicts — 
Nations Seeking Places "In the Sun" — The Quest of Free Outlet to the High 
Seas — Russia's Age-Long Struggles Toward Open Water — Oiu: Own Fight 
for the Sea — Austria and the Adriatic — Looking Toward Salonica — Serbia's 
Need of a Sea Coast — The Annexation of Novi Bazar — Austrian Designs Against 
Serbia — Germany the Master Hand — Imperial Schemes in Mesopotamia and 
the Far East — Planning for World-Wide Empire — The German North Sea 
Frontage — The War Begun on the World's Most Famous Battlefield. 

BOTH THE pretexts and the causes of the World War — 
and pretexts and causes are often very different things — 
were varied and complex. The former were in some measure 
contradictory. First of all, there was Austria-Hungary's 
wrath over the assassination of the heir to the thrones, and 
her demands upon Serbia for such amends as could be made. 
Next there was Russia's preparation to protect Serbia 
against oppression and spoliation. Then there was Ger- 
many's intervention to protect her ally from Russian 
attack. There was Germany's complaint, afterward ad- 
mitted to have been quite false, that French aviators had 
committed hostile invasion of the empire, on which account 
war was declared against France. Later there was the 
pretence that Germany had discovered a plot of the other 
powers to attack and oppress her and to deprive her of 
her rightful ''place in the sun." But, as a matter of fact, 
there were involved certain racial rivalries and national 
ambitions dating much further back than any of these 
things; some of the principles being almost as old as human 
history. 

31 



ANTECEDENTS OF THE WORLD WAR 

From the earliest times nations have generally been 
divided into two rival camps, antagonistic if not openly 
belligerent; and at intervals during and since the classic 
age some nation sought and has been seeking a laj^ger 
^' place in the sun," or more free access to the high seas. 
The strife of Iran against Turan was the burden of the 
Epic of Kings. The strife of classic Greece, from Miltiades 
to Alexander of Macedon, was a war of continents and 
civilizations, the soul of Europe against the mass of Asia. 
Rome in turn long stood on the one side and the rest of 
the world on the other. Later the Western Empire was 
arrayed against the Gauls and Goths, and the Eastern 
Empire against the Slavs and the Turks. In the days of 
the Crusades Europe was again arrayed against Asia. 
After that it was the Latin against the Teutonic race, 
a strife which was maintained down to within our own 
recollection, in the ''Terrible Year" between France and 
Germany. 

The present war at first assumed the aspect of a new 
alignment, that of Teuton against Slav. That appeared 
in Austria's attack upon Serbia, Russia's championship 
of Serbia, and Germany's defiance to Russia. Later, 
however, such lines were largely swept aside in a mad 
welter of all races and nations. Teuton and Slav, Latin 
and Anglo-Saxon, Tartar and Turk, Hindoo and Mongolian, 
were all inextricably mingled. 

THE QUEST OF THE SEA 

As often of old, too, it was a fight for access to the sea. 
The cry of Xenophon's Ten Thousand, ''Thalatta! Tha- 
latta!" has been repeated, in desire or in reahzation, by 
many a nation in many a campaign. It was the sea that 
the Phoenicians sought in their colonizations, thirty-one 
32 



ANTECEDENTS OF THE WORLD WAR 

centuries ago; and that the Dorians sought thirty centuries 
back, when they supplanted the Pelasgi in the Pelopon- 
nesus. It was the sea that the Assyrians sought when 
they overran Syria, and that the Babylonians sought 
when they conquered Judea and Egypt. It was the sea 
that Darius and his Persians sought when they invaded 
Thrace and oppressed the Greek colonies of Asia 
Minor. 

When at last the powers fronting on the Great Sea 
were supreme over all others, the strife to reach the sea 
was ended for a time, and was transformed into a struggle 
for the sea's control. But later, when again great inland 
powers arose, the old quest was renewed. The so-called 
''Will of Peter the Great" is notoriously a sheer invention, 
sprung upon the world by Napoleon Bonaparte for the 
furtherance of his own purposes. But it is quite true in 
its expression of the unresting efforts of the great Slav 
power to gain an outlet upon an unfrozen sea. 

"a window looking upon Europe" 
Peter secured at the capital to which he gave his name 
what he described as "a window looking upon Europe"; 
but it was a window too much barred with frost, and the 
same is to be said of all the Russian conquests along the 
Baltic. The great Catherine gained a frontage on the 
Euxine, but the ''narrowing Symplegades " were still 
between her and the high seas of the world. A march 
was made across Siberia to the Pacific, to get only an 
ice-locked harbor and to find Japan blocking the way to 
warmer waters. Longing eyes have been cast toward 
the North Atlantic, but miles of Sweden and Norway 
intervene. An essay has been made toward the Persian 
GuK, but there Great Britain is in the way. Russian 
3 33 



ANTECEDENTS OF THE WORLD WAR 

history for two hundred years has been a story of efforts 
to reach the open sea. 

OUR OWN SEA-SEEKING 

Nor has Russia been singular in that quest. Four times 
has our own country been party to it. Once was when 
we were ready to fight France and the world for an outlet 
down the Mississippi, and a second essay was at the same 
time, when pioneers were sent over the mountains to win 
a title to the Pacific Coast. The third time was in the 
days of "Fifty-four Forty or Fight!" with two nations 
contending for Oregon and its ocean frontage; and the 
fourth was when Canada vainly sought to break through 
our Alaskan Panhandle for a short cut from the Klondike 
to the sea. 

AUSTRIA AND THE ADRIATIC 

Still more to the present purpose, Austria-Hungary 
has long been seeking the sea, or more of the sea. There 
have been many ill-advised jests directed at Shakespeare 
for speaking of the sea-coast of Bohemia, showing chiefly 
the ignorance of those who make them; for the fact is, 
of course, that prior to Shakespeare's time, as that poet 
doubtless knew, Bohemia was a maritime power, with 
an extensive and important frontage upon the sea — ^much 
of the very same coast which Austria possessed after she 
had acquired Bohemia, and some of which she still possesses. 
It was largely for the frontage on the sea that Austria 
so prized and clung to Venetia, and it is for the same 
cause that she now chiefly values Kustenland. 

But that Istrian frontage is insufficient and unsatis- 
factory. It contains only the one port of Trieste and 
the one watering place of Abbazia, while Croatia, adjoin- 
34 



ANTECEDENTS OF THE WORLD WAR 

ing, gives to Hungary only the one port of Fiume. No 
wonder that it was determined, at all hazards and at the 
sacrifice of plighted faith, to seize the Serb provinces of 
Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to secure an ample 
hinterland for the tenuous Dalmatian littoral, and thus 
to give the Dual Realm an effective sea-coast of more than 
three hundred miles. No wonder, either, that it was 
similarly determined to set up the puppet state of Albania, 
to be a practical appanage of Austria and to give that 
power some hundreds of miles more of coast, almost con- 
tinuous from Dalmatia southward, to and beyond the 
Strait of Otranto, with a frontage not merely on the 
Adriatic, but also on the open Ionian Sea. 

LOOKING TOWARD SALONICA 

There was another and perhaps a still stronger purpose 
in the rape of the Serb provinces. That was to push 
toward another sea, the ^gean, by way of Novi Bazar, 
the Vardar Valley and Salonica. That had been Austria's 
ambition for many years. More than once she had prac- 
tically offered to support Russia in seizing Constantinople 
if Russia would support her in seizing Salonica. She 
had sought to secure sanction for such expansion at the 
Berlin Congress of 1878, and though she then failed her 
whole Eastern poHcy thereafter had been directed to that 
end. To that end she had alternately cajoled and bullied 
Serbia, striving to make and keep that country dependent 
upon her. And the most maddening blow that Austria 
had received since the loss of Venetia was that inflicted 
by Serbia in the Balkan War of 1912, in annexing Novi 
Bazar and Kossovo and forming a political union with 
Montenegro, thus throwing a complete barrier across 
Austria's path to the JEgean. That barrier could not 

35 



ANTECEDENTS OF TH E WORLD WAR 

be turned, and there is reason to believe that Austria in 
desperation resolved to break it down through the device 
of picking a quarrel with Serbia and waging a war of 
conquest. 

SERBIA AND THE SEA 

Serbia, too, had a desire for the sea. For centuries she 
had been shut up inland. Even when her independence 
was restored she remained occluded from the sea, and 
dependent upon Austria-Hungary for a route of com- 
munication with the rest of Europe, f^ NaturaUy she 
desired her old sea frontage, of Dalmatia and Albania. 
The Austrian seizure of Bosnia and Herzegovina destroyed 
for a time her hope of an outlet in that direction. But 
she did expect as the fruit of her heroism in the war with 
Turkey to be permitted to take Scutari. When that was 
denied her, through Austrian opposition, her resentment 
against that power was greatly increased and confirmed. 
More than that. She had at any rate taken Novi Bazar 
and thus made herself directly contiguous with Monte- 
negro,"a state as purely Serb as Serbia herself. The next 
step was logical and formidable. It was to make a com- 
pact with Montenegro for the organic union of the two 
nations. That was done just before the beginning of the 
World War. It was agreed that so long as Nicholas of 
Montenegro lived, he should remain an independent 
sovereign. But upon his death, his son should not suc- 
ceed him but should abdicate in favor of the King of 
Serbia. Then the two kingdoms would become one. 

AUSTRIAN DESPERATION 

Now this Serbo-Montenegrin compact, which was for 
a time kept secret, became known at Vienna only a little 
38 



ANTECEDENTS OF THE WORLD WAR 

while before the fatal visit of the Austrian heir-presumptive 
to Sarajevo. As might be supposed, it created a profound 
sensation and aroused both consternation and wrath. 
It was recognized as placing, if it were permitted to stand, 
the final seal of doom upon Austria's ambitions in that 
direction. Then it was determined, by hook or by crook, 
to have that compact broken. There seemed to be only 
one way in which to do this. That was to pick on some 
pretext a quarrel with Serbia, to wage war against that 
country, and to compel it to recede from the ground which 
it had thus taken. The pretext which was thus created 
proved to be much more tragic than had been intended, 
but, of course, it was not for that reason abandoned. 
So it came to pass that Austria practically demanded 
as an alternative to war that Serbia should abdicate her 
independent sovereignty and make herself an administra- 
tive appanage to Austria. All other demands than that 
Serbia was willing to grant, for the sake of peace. Her 
knowledge of her own government's integrity and blame- 
lessness for the Sarajevo crime emboldened her to court 
all possible inquiry. But she could not and would not 
assent to having Austrian inquisitors usurp the places 
of Serbian judges and manufacture at Belgrade the spurious 
evidence which had been trumped up the year before at 
Agram. So she refused that one demand, and at that 
Austria, having anticipated such refusal, declared war. 

DESIGNS AGAINST SERBIA 

The purposes of Austria were threefold. One was 
to cripple Serbia, to humiliate her, to impose upon her a 
huge debt for war indemnity, and to exact from her in the 
peace treaty a practical acknowledgment of Austrian 
suzerainty. 

37 



ANTECEDENTS OF THE WORLD WAR 

The second was to compel Serbia to withdraw from 
Novi Bazar in favor of Austria, and thus let herself be 
separated from Montenegro by an Austrian wedge, and 
at the same time to compel her to renounce the projected 
union with Montenegro. 

The third was to oppress Montenegro, as a penalty for 
her aid to Serbia, by taking from her the little sea-coast 
which she possessed, so as to make the Austrian littoral 
of Dalmatia extend unbroken down to the quasi-Austrian 
puppet state of Albania, which was to be ruled by the 
German Prince of Wied. Thus the whole eastern coast 
of the Adriatic would have become Austrian. 

THE HAND OF GERMANY 

In all these designs Austria was backed by Germany. 
Indeed, it was Germany that imperatively insisted that 
Austria should inexorably pursue them, particularly the 
second which we have mentioned, the seizure of the sanjak 
of Novi Bazar. There was a terrible scene at Vienna 
when it became known that Count Aerenthal, at the same 
time that he seized Bosnia and Herzegovina, committed 
his government to the relinquishment to Turkey of that 
limited occupation of Novi Bazar which it had exercised 
since 1878. His idea was, of course, thus to mollify the 
Turkish Government and minimize its objections and 
resentment over the theft of the Serb provinces. But 
the "forward" party at Vienna, and even the venerable 
Emperor himself, regarded it as a great mistake, which 
must at some time be rectified. "You should have seized 
the Serb provinces," Aerenthal was told, "but at the same 
time you should have held fast to the sanjak. Remember, 
it is to him that hath that more shall be given!" 

This wrath was largely inspired from Berlin. For just 
38 



ANTECEDENTS OF THE WORLD WAR 

as Austria wanted to get down to Salonica, so did Germany 
desire a highway to Constantinople and the East. The 
German Emperor had visited Constantinople and Palestine. 
He had secured concessions from the Sultan for railroads 
in Asia Minor and Mesopotamia. He planned a great 
German trade route, over German railroads, through 
Serbia and Thrace to Constantinople, through Asia Minor 
to Bagdad, and thence down Mesopotamia to the Persian 
Gulf. Thus Germany would have direct outlets to the 
iEgean and Mediterranean Seas, and to the Indian Ocean. 
Germany would thus get into closer touch with her exten- 
sive East Indian colonies, and with the province which 
she had practically wrested from China, and would be in 
a position to attack the British Empire in India. 

THE NORTH SEA FRONTAGE 

There was a lust for sea frontage in still another direc- 
tion. Germany wanted to have a more commanding out- 
look upon that North Sea which she preferred to call the 
German Ocean. It was to increase her frontage upon it 
that Prussia seized Schleswig Holstein, and afterward 
similarly acquired Hanover. But that was not sufficient. 
The two Low Countries were in the way. Holland had 
for years been the object of ardent German wooing, with 
the hope of inducing her to become a member of the Empire; 
and that hope was never abandoned down to the outbreak 
of the war. 

But Belgium was still more coveted. That was partly 
because of that country's greater industrial and com- 
mercial importance, her port of Antwerp being the second 
or third largest in the world, and partly because of her 
geographical position, commanding the upper approaches 
to the British Channel and affording a vantage point from 

39 



ANTECEDENTS OF THE WORLD WAR 

which the Enghsh coast itself might be attacked. It was 
therefore with an eye cast in each direction, toward the 
East and toward the West, that Germany thrust her ally 
forward into a position which gave pretext and provoca- 
tion for war; a war which technically began in that south- 
eastern corner of Europe which had more than once or 
twice before been the battlefield of the world. 




The First German Army which Invaded France (1,200,000) would have 
Stretched from Paris into Russia (1200 Miles) if Marching in Single File 



40 



Chapter III 
THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD OF THE WORLD 

"The Lumber Room of Europe" -A Land of Many Different Peoples - 
Its Early Importance as the Battleground between Europe and Asia — Byzantmm, 
or Constantinople - Effects of Its Capture by the Turks - The Ancient Albanians 
— The Coming of the Bulgars — History of the Serbs and theu: Empire — 1 he 
Black Mountain - Greece - Roumania - The Ottoman Turks - American Influ- 
ences in the Balkans - The War of 1877 - The Congress of Berhn - Contempt 
of the Great Powers for the Rights of the Balkan States -The Turkish Revolu- 
tion- Austria-Hungary's Seizure of the Serb Provinces - The Balkan League 
-The Amazing War of the United Balkans Against Turkey — More Meddlmg 
by the Great Powers for Selfish Ends — Resentment in Serbia — A Step Toward 
the World War. 

THE AVERAGE person probably thinks of the Balkan 
peninsula in something like the words of Tennyson, as a 
land ''where fragments of forgotten peoples dwelt." Mace- 
donia in particular, which is that part of the region over 
which the recent Balkan war most directly rose, has long 
been described by diplomatists and journahsts as 'Hhe 
lumber room of Europe." To change the figure, you 
may sometimes see at the bend of a swiftly flowing stream 
a Httle cove or bay, in which the water is almost motion- 
less, or in which it simply eddies round and round, and 
into which has been whirled by the passing current all 
manner of flotsam and jetsam, good and bad, the living 
and the dead. So it has been with this region of the 
southern Balkans. Into it have drifted men of every tribe 
and nation, inextricably mingled together in a slackwater, 
while the great stream of the world's progress has rushed 
by almost unheeded and unheeding. And yet that region 
^ 41 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 







ATTLEGUOUND OF SOUTHEASTERN EuROPE 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 

is peopled with representatives of some of the greatest 
races that the world has ever known. There are the 
Arnauts of Albania, strange remnants of a prehistoric 
race of whose ancestry or origin the world knows nothing, 
save that before Greece and Rome were founded they 
were there, and now centuries after Greece and Rome 
have fallen they are still there — ^i-emote, unique, uncon- 
querable. There are Greeks, who once made the plains 
of Thrace and the narrow seas the battlegrounds on which 
to protect the dawning soul of Europe from the decadent 
body of Asia. There are the Bulgars, who came down 
from the dreary plains between the Volga and the Urals 
to plant the rose garden of Europe. There are the Serbs, 
who wandered south from Poland to found a great though 
short-hved empire. There are the Ottoman Turl^, who 
followed in the track of Darius and Xerxes and conquered 
where the Persians had failed, and who by their conquests 
changed all the subsequent history of the world. There 
are the Jews, most marvelous of peoples, who after more 
thousands of years than most nations know hundreds, 
are still distinct, immutable, with scarcely a change of 
character since the days of Solomon. There are Rou- 
manians, who still proudly call themselves Romans; 
Russians, Germans, Italians, and a contingent of almost 
every nation under the sun. 

THE CENTER OF THE OLD WORLD 

And these are gathered together in that land which of 
all is perhaps most entitled to be known as the center of 
the world. There is no other country round which the 
history of the human race has so much revolved and upon 
which human interest has so much centered. Look at a 
map of the world as it was known by the ancients, or was 

43 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 

imagined by them, and observe its place. It occupies 
the center of the stage, in full blazing spotlight of the 
world's attention. On the one hand, Europe; on the 
other, Asia. At the North, the vast regions of the Slavs, 
the Bulgars, the Tartars; at the South, the immemorial 
civilization of Egypt and Ethiopia. And this region, 
the point at which they all meet; the veritable Four 
Corners of the world. There is no more certain law of 
physics than that forces move along lines of least resistance. 
Forces moving North and South or East and West found 
the lines of least resistance leading them directly to the 
Bosporus and Dardanelles. Thousands of years ago it 
was recognized that the power which held those Straits 
controlled the destinies of the world. Later discoveries 
in geography, the opening of new routes of travel, and 
the invention of new methods and systems of transporta- 
tion have greatly modified these conditions; yet even to 
this day those lands and waters retain a large degree of 
their old-time importance. 

ON THE BOSPORUS 

We speak familiarly of Constantinople with less of rever- 
ence or of awe than of Babylon, Rome, Athens, or Jerusalem, 
yet it easily ranks with them as one of the five or six greatest 
cities of the ancient world. More than six centuries before 
the Christian era it was founded by the Megarians and 
Argives, under the lead of Byzas, from whom it took its 
ancient name, Byzantium. Tradition has it that the 
site was divinely selected and directed by the Delphic 
Oracle. In the Greco-Persian Wars it was destroyed by 
the armies of Darius, but after the immortal battle of 
Platea the Spartan hero Pausanias regained it and rebuilt 
it. Alcibiades, Lysander, Xenophon and Epaminondas 
44 



THE BALKAN 13 A T T L E F I E L D 

and many other great names in Grecian history are in- 
separably associated with the city upon the Bosporus; 
and after them the names of Roman emperors and con- 
querors. The place was attacked and largely destroyed 
by Alexander Severus, who thus unwittingly struck a 
deadly blow at his own Roman Empire. For with the 
fortifications of Bj^zantium destroyed, the fleets of the 
Goths were enabled to come down the Danube and other 
rivers into the Black Sea and thence through the Straits 
into the Mediterranean. It was not until the fourth 
century of our era that the city was rebuilt by Constantino 
the Great, endowed with his name and made the Eastern 
Capital of the Roman Empire, soon to become the capital 
of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire. As such 
it played a great part in history for many centuries. You 
may still see there the stately ruins of the castle of 
Belisarius, the last of the great Roman conquerors. The 
tides of Turkish and Tartar invasion swept past the city 
into Europe, but could not overwhelm it. Even after 
the Ottoman Turks had conquered Bulgaria, Serbia, 
Macedonia and most of Thrace, and had established their 
capital at Adrianople, the city of Constantine still seemed 
impregnable. When at last, after one of the most famous 
and heroic defenses in history, deserted and betrayed 
by those who should have been its friends and defenders, 
it finally fell in 1453, a new epoch came upon the world. 
For the fall of Constantinople threw into Turkish hands 
that one great gateway between Europe and the East, 
and that was what set the Portuguese and other navi- 
gators, explorers and adventurers to seeking new routes 
to the Indies, and finally sent Columbus across the Atlantic 
to seek the back door of Asia but instead to find the front 
door of America. The rise of the new world dates from 

45 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 

the triumph of the Crescent over the Cross on the banks 
of the Bosporus. 

THE ALBANIANS 

Now let us glance for a moment at some of the present 
dwellers in this historic land. In the extreme west, in 
the mountainous region along the Adriatic Coast, are the 
Albanians, or Arnauts, who have the distinction of being 
one of the only two or three peoples in Europe who so far 
as we know have never migrated but have been settled 
where they are today ever since the dawn of history. 
More than one thousand years before our era there occurred 
the Dorian invasion, and it was several centuries later 
before Greece attained the glory which made her unique 
among the nations of antiquity and still leaves her in 
memory the unrivaled wonder of the world. But long 
before the Dorian invasion this whole region was occupied 
by what the Greeks called the Pelasgian race. The 
origin or the meaning of that word Pelasgian is unknown. 
But that was what Homer and other ancient Greeks caUed 
the people who were there before them. They have all 
vanished save the Albanians, who today remain the 
unchanging representatives of the prehistoric Pelasgians. 
Centuries ago, when the Turks were striving for the con- 
quest of all Europe, the Albanians produced in John 
Castriot, Prince of Croia, best known as Scanderbeg, 
one of the supreme, immortal heroes of the world; the 
man who held his rock citadel for a lifetime against all 
the might of Othman, and who with a handful of moun- 
taineers rolled back in disaster and dismay the Turkish 
armies which were threatening all Europe, and sent the 
proudest and mightiest of the Ottoman Sultans back to 
Adrianople to die of chagrin and despair and a broken 
46 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 

heart. To this day the Albanians are still the same wild, 
daring, hospitable, indomitable mountaineers that they 
were of old, and though for centuries they have been 
nominally under Turkish rule, they have never fully 
acknowledged any other authority than their own. 

THE BULGARS 

The Bulgars are a Turanian people, kin to the Tartars, 
Huns and Finns, who had their former home at the earliest 
date of which we know of them on the vast plains and 
mountain slopes of Eastern Russia, between the Volga 
River and the Ural Mountains, where their kingdom was 
known as Great Bolgary for several centuries. In the 
seventh century of our era they began their migration, 
by way of Astrakhan, the Crimea and the northern and 
western shores of the Black Sea, around to the Balkan 
region; a horde of wild and savage horsemen, practicing 
polygamy, and ruled despotically in patriarchal fashion by 
tribal chiefs. Their invasion was a forerunner of the later 
Tartar invasions of Genghis-Khan and Timur Leng, but 
while not marked with so extensive conquests or so great 
savagery as theirs, it was more successful in being more 
permanent. They marched to the very gates of Con- 
stantinople and compelled the Byzantine Emperor to pay 
them rich tribute and to grant them the extensive provinces 
which form the Bulgaria of today. These savage invaders 
absorbed the civilization of the lands which they con- 
quered and became a part of the Serbian empire which 
in the tenth and thirteenth centuries ranked among the 
great civilized powers of the world. It extended from the 
Black Sea to the Adriatic and from Thessaly to the Car- 
pathians, and its ruler bore the proud title of Emperor 
and Autocrat of All the Serbs. In 1389 the fatal battle 

47 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 

of Kossovo made the Turks masters of the Balkan penin- 
sula, in 1393 Tirnovo was captured and destroyed by the 
Turks, and thereafter until our own time the Bulgars 
were crushed beneath the Ottoman heel. By the beginning 
of the nineteenth century their existence and their name 
were almost forgotten by the world. 

THE SERBS 

The Serbs are a Slavonic people, kin to the Croats, and 
first appear in history in the writings of Pliny, who described 
them as an agricultural people settled in Poland and 
especially in what is now known as Galicia. In the sixth 
century of our era they moved down the Danube and 
settled in what is now the kingdom of Serbia and the 
adjoining provinces, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, 
now claimed by Austria-Hungary, and the northern part 
of Macedonia and Albania. It was not until the twelfth 
century that their first ruler, Stephen Nemanya, organized 
them into an independent kingdom. Education, literature 
and the arts were greatly promoted, and Serbia became 
one of the most enlightened lands of Eastern Europe. 
Under Stephen Dushan, in the fourteenth century, the 
Serbian Empire attained the zenith of its greatness and 
glory. It comprised the whole Balkan peninsula, from 
Greece northward to Poland, and from the Black Sea to 
the Adriatic, excepting Constantinople itself and a small 
territory adjacent. In laws and civilization it was scarcely 
inferior to the most advanced nations of Western Europe. 
Near the end of that century the last great Serbian ruler, 
the Tsar Lazarus Hrebelianovich, sought to unite Greece 
and Constantinople itself with his empire to form an 
irresistible barrier against the advance of the Turks into 
Europe. But through the indifference of some and the 
48 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 

treason of others his plans failed and he was defeated in 
the great battle of Kossovo. On that fatal field both the 
Serbian Tsar Lazarus and the Turkish Sultan Amurath I 
were slain, and the Ottoman power became supreme. 
While, however, Bulgaria and other parts of the Serbian 
Empire fell under complete Turkish control, Serbia proper 
long maintained a semi-independent status. In the 
latter part of the fifteenth century, Serbia had become 
weakened by repeated Turkish assaults, no other nation 
in Europe would or could raise a hand to help her, and 
so at last she fell beneath the Ottoman yoke. But as she 
was the last of all the Christian states to be vanquished, 
she was in course of time also the first to strike a successful 
blow for the restoration of her freedom. 

MONTENEGRO 

After the fatal battle of Kossovo a number of the most 
valiant and resolute of the Serbian nobles and their retainers 
fled to the mountain fastnesses at the north of Albania 
and established themselves as an independent state. There 
they held their ground with unrivaled heroism against 
all the power of the Ottoman Empire, unconquerable as 
the rocky peaks amid which they made their home. In 
all the time during which the Turks were masters over 
the rest of the Balkan region, Montenegro alone retained 
its independence, and never until the present, in all the 
more than five centuries since, was the brave little mountain 
state subdued. It held its own through being a nation 
of warriors. Here we have a law forbidding men to carry 
deadly weapons. But in Montenegro they had a law 
which required every man to carry at least one loaded 
pistol in his belt at all times; at work and at pla}^ in 
the family circle and in worship at church; and woe to 

4 49 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 

the luckless man who was found without such equipment. 
The greatest of the early IVIontenegrin rulers was Ivan 
the Black, and there is to this day a legend among the 
people that he is not dead but merely sleeping in a mountain 
cavern, awaiting the call for the final expulsion of the 
Turks from Europe, when he will awaken again to lead 
his people. 

GREECE 

Of Greece it should scarcely be necessary to speak, 
so familiar is its history to the world. Twenty-four cen- 
turies ago it was the bulwark of Europe against Asiatic 
invasion. It rose to a height of intellectual and artistic 
splendor which the world for more than twenty centuries 
since has despaired of rivaling. It fell under alien sub- 
jection through its own intestine feuds. Seven years 
after the fall of Constantinople it was conquered by the 
Turks, and though Venice two centuries later wrested 
half of it from the Asiatic conquerors, in 1715 the whole 
of it fell back under the Ottoman yoke and there remained 
until, more than a century later, occurred the revolution 
adorned by the chivalric heroism of Byron, which in 1829 
was finally successful. Since that time Greece has been 
an independent kingdom among the nations of the world. 

ROUMANIA 

One other kingdom demands at least passing notice. 
This is Roumania, the largest of them all, lying between 
Russia on the north, Bulgaria on the south, the Black 
Sea on the east and Hungary on the west. We first hear 
of that region as occupied by the Dacians, a brave and 
warlike tribe who for many years held their own against 
first the Greeks and then the Romans. The Emperor 
50 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 

Trajan at last subdued them and the region was then 
largely colonized by Romans. After the fall of Rome 
the province became a thoroughfare through which passed 
many hordes of invaders, coming from Russia and Asia 
into Southern Europe. The Goths, the Huns under 
Attila, the Lombards under Alboin, the Bulgars, the 
Magyars and the Wallachs successively traversed that 
region, leaving their imprint upon it, and the Wallachs 
particularly leaving many permanent settlers. In time 
the region became divided into the two provinces of 
Moldavia and Wallachia, long known as the Danubian 
provinces and ruled by independent chiefs. In the fifteenth 
and sixteenth centuries they were both so far conquered 
by the Turks as to be compelled to pay tribute to the 
Sultan, though they always retained a considerable measure 
of self-government. Under Peter the Great the Russians 
attempted the conquest of them, and for many years 
practically controlled the provinces. But in 1859 the 
two were united under a single prince whose independence 
of both Turkey and Russia was presently recognized, and 
in 1881 Roumania was erected into a kingdom, ranking in 
importance next to the great powers of Europe. 

THE OTTOMAN TURKS 

But we must not play Hamlet with the part of Hamlet 
left out; nor review the history of the Balkans without 
recalUng that of the Ottoman Turks. This formidable 
tribe was first heard of at Khorassan, on the Afghan border 
of Persia. Driven westward by the Mongols it, early in 
the thirteenth century, entered Armenia and Asia Minor 
and gave much military assistance in a time of need to 
the Seljuk of Iconium, helping him to win the great battle 
of Angora against the Mongols. For this service the 

51 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 

Sultan gave to the tribe extensive lands at Sugut, in the 
ancient province of Phrygia, in Asia Minor. At that 
place was bom the great leader, Osman, or Othman, 
from whom the tribe thereafter took its name of Osmanli 
or Ottoman Turks. He and his son conquered all that 
part of Asia Minor to the shores of the Dardanelles and 
Bosporus. There for years the tribe rested, developing 
one of the most marvelous and masterful civil and military 
systems in the world, and then, in the middle of the four- 
teenth century, they resumed their westward movement. 
Amurath I crossed the Dardanelles and soon conquered 
Adrianople, Philippopolis, most of Thrace, Bulgaria and 
Serbia and practically the whole Balkan country save 
Constantinople itself and the territory immediately adja- 
cent. Constantinople itself would probably have been 
taken had not the Mongols under Timur Leng swept into 
Asia Minor and crushed the Ottoman army at Angora, 
on the very field where the Mongols had been defeated 
many years before. For a time the Ottoman Empire 
seemed destroyed, but its tremendous vitahty survived 
and in a few years it had regained all that it had lost. 
Under Mohammed I the capital was transferred from 
Broussa, in Asia Minor, to Adrianople, in Thrace, and 
that is the reason why the Turks today regard Adrianople 
with peculiar veneration and were so reluctant to sur- 
render it to the victorious allies of the Balkans. In 
time the Ottoman Empire extended from Persia at 
the east to Italy at the west, and from Poland at 
the north to Ethiopia at the south. Hungary for a 
century and a half was an Ottoman province, and 
the Austrian capital, Vienna, was twice attacked by 
Turkish besiegers and was saved from capture only by 
payment of a ransom. 
52 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 



THE DAWN OF BALKAN FREEDOM 

At the middle of the sixteenth century the Turkish 
power reached its zenith, and thereafter it waned. In 



Boundary of Turkish Empire in 1815. 

Boundaries of independent or semi- 

independent states betneen ISISi 1885. 
— — • — Boundary of Bulgaria proposed bi/ 
the Treaty of San Stefano, 187i 
I Highlands 9ver 3000 feet. 



The dates are those of the liberation of the 
various districts from Turkish rule. 




The Balkan States, 1815-1885 

the eighteenth century it was repeatedly attacked and 
despoiled by the rising power of Russia, at times aided 
by Austria, and in the nineteenth century its downward 
course was swift and sure. Greece won her independence. 
Serbia led the way in the Balkans toward the same end, 

53 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 

and in 1866 expelled the last Turkish garrison. In that 
same year Roumania became independent, and then in 
1874 came the beginning of the end. The disordered 
condition of Turkish finances led to fiscal intervention 
by the powers. An insurrection in the provinces of 
Bosnia and Herzegovina was suppressed with difficulty, 
and in 1875 a rebellion in Bulgaria was crushed with such 
savagery that when two Americans, J. A. MacGahan 
and Eugene Schuyler, exposed the atrocities, the civilized 
world stood appalled. Nor was the work of these two 
devoted men the only service America rendered to the 
Balkan peoples. Years before there had been founded 
at Constantinople by a New York philanthropist the 
great institution known by the name of its creator as 
Robert CoUege. There many young men of Bulgaria 
were educated not only in the arts and sciences but also 
in the principles of free government and the rights of men. 
Many Bulgarians, too, came to America and were educated 
in our own schools and colleges. And thus from our own 
land the fight of liberty and the spirit of independence 
were reflected into the dark places of the oppressed Balkan 
States. It was because of that American impulse that 
Bulgaria rebeUed, and it was by the word of American 
witnesses that the unexampled horrors of Turkish repres- 
sion were made known to the world. Following those 
appalling tragedies Serbia and Montenegro declared war 
against Turkey, but were quickly defeated. Then in the 
spring of 1877 Russia and Roumania declared war, 
ostensibly for the redemption of the Bulgarians and other 
Christian peoples from Turkish tyranny. The Roumanian 
Prince was made commander-in-chief of the aUied forces, 
and though Russia contributed the major part of the 
army the most critical engagement in the war was won 
54 




^ 


c 


a> 


7 


3 











^ 


m 












p" 


H 




K 


^ 


H 




W 






O 


O 










y 


H 


^. 


d 


3 


» 


P 
'^ 


S 




K 






3 


<^ 




>^ 


tr 


>' 


cc 


w 









< 


.S: c 




'A 






y, 


N 




<•, 


^, f> 




c 


e-j 


;^ 


a 


H:2 




•^ 


„ 3 


>; 




fe^ 


1 




.-C 






•TS 




-' 


Ph^J 


b 


a 
-I- 


-3 33 

0. c 


-3 


a 


i-sh 




X 






^S 










ffi 


g o 








•^ 


'' 


S :s 


d 




'C ^ 


kj 




< OJ 


31 






^ 




'^^.5 


•? 




m- 








n. 




> 




H 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 

by the valor of the Roumanian troops. Adrianople was 
captured in January, 1878, and soon afterward Russia 
attempted to dictate terms to Turkey under which she 
would have taken for herself as spoils of war the larger 
part of the Ottoman Empire. Against this other great 
powers protested, and a European congress was held 
at Berlin in 1878 to arrange the final terms of peace and 
the readjustment of the political map of Europe. 

BLUNDERS OF THE POWERS 

Two stupendous errors were committed by the powers 
at that time. One was, that they largely ignored the 
natural rights of the Balkan peoples and looked chiefly 
to their own selfish aggrandizement. Serbia and Monte- 
negro did receive slight advantages, but the two important 
provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina which were almost 
purely Serbian, and which on every principle of right 
and justice belonged to that country, were placed under 
Austrian protection and thus the way was opened for 
Austria-Hungary years later to seize them and arbitrarily 
annex them to her own domain. Roumania, which had 
really won the war against Turkey, instead of being 
rewarded was actually despoiled by having the rich province 
of Bessarabia taken from her and given to Russia, her 
only compensation being a gift of the comparatively worth- 
less region known as the Dobrudscha. Bulgaria was, 
it is true, erected into an autonomous state, under Turkish 
suzerainty, but with no thought of its ever becoming or 
long remaining really independent. Its crown was offered 
to a gaUant German prince, Alexander of Battenberg, 
and when he asked the advice of Bismarck as to whether 
he should accept it or not, the Iron Chancellor, anticipating 
the speedy collapse of the new state, cynically replied, 

55 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 

''Oh, yes, take it; it will be a pleasant souvenir!" The 
fact was, Russia had waged the war against Turkey not 
so much for the liberation of the Balkan peoples as for 
her own aggrandizement, and she now intended presently 
to absorb Bulgaria and so to push on to her long coveted 
goal at Constantinople, upon which her eye had been 
fixed for a thousand years. On the other hand, Austria- 
Hungary was similarly intent upon absorbing Serbia and 
much of Macedonia, and so pushing down to Salonica, 
her goal on the ^Egean Sea. Serbia and Bulgaria, with 
their former history of greatness, were ignored, or were 
used only as pawns in the game. And for many years 
thereafter, indeed down to half a dozen years ago, Russian 
and Austro-Hungarian diplomacy, intrigues, commercial 
influence and military threats were exercised to those 
same ends, to disturb the governments of Bulgaria and 
Serbia, to make their success as independent states impos- 
sible, and to compel them to fall into the hands of the 
two great powers. 

MACEDONIA 

The other capital error, which grew out of this first one, 
was in making no provision or in taking no steps for the 
enforcement of the European prescriptions of better 
government for Macedonia. The powers at the congress 
of Berlin demanded great reforms in that government 
and Turkey promised to grant them. But as a matter 
of fact immediately after the adjournment of the congress 
Turkish government in Macedonia and Albania became 
every whit as bad as it had been before, and atrocities 
similar to those which in Bulgaria had staggered humanity 
were of frequent occurrence. This disastrous policy had 
various results. It maintained and intensified the age- 
56 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 

long hostility of the Serbs, Bulgars and Greeks against 
Turkey. It kept Albania in a state of chronic disaffection 
and revolt. It made of Macedonia a land of benighted 
lawlessness. It provoked occasional remonstrances from 
the powers and some acts of intervention, which were 
futile and ineffectual. It also for many years gave rise 
to bitter jealousies and animosities among the three states 
of Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece, each of them seeking to 
advance its own interests in Macedonia and each claiming 
to be the rightful owner of that region. 

DEMORALIZED STATES 

Both these causes, moreover, had a demoralizing effect 
upon the Balkan States themselves. In Serbia the intrigues 
of Austria corrupted the court and filled its career with 
repeated scandals, until at last the people could endure 
that state of affairs no longer. A mihtary conspiracy 
was formed, which resulted in one of the most shocking 
tragedies in modern history, when the palace was forcibly 
entered and the king and queen were butchered in cold 
blood and the dynasty exterminated. Then a prince 
of a former dynasty was called to the throne, and is now 
the king of Serbia. In Bulgaria there was a succession 
of outrages and tragedies similarly brought about by the 
malevolent intrigues of Russia. Prince Alexander was 
one night seized in his palace by Russian kidnappers 
and forcibly carried out of the country and compelled 
under threats of death to abdicate his throne. On regaining 
his liberty he returned and for a time resumed his wise 
and patriotic rule, but again was compelled to abdicate 
as an alternative to having his country crushed by the 
overwhelming force of Russia. In his place Ferdinand 
of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was elected prince. He was a 

57 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 

grandson of Louis Philippe of France and related to four 
or five royal families, but at the time of his election he was 
a half-pay lieutenant in the Austrian army. A master 
of intrigue, of boundless ambition, and of more than 
ordinary ability in statecraft, he set himself to the task 
of restoring the ancient greatness of Bulgaria and at the 
same time of exalting himself among the great rulers 
of Europe. Stephen Stambuloff, the greatest statesman 
of modern Bulgaria and the real creator of that country's 
independence, was known not unfittingly as the Bismarck 
of the Balkans and for a time as Prime Minister of Bulgaria 
he overshadowed the young prince. In Germany, the 
young Emperor William II got rid of Bismarck by forcing 
his resignation from the chancellorship. In Bulgaria, 
Stambuloff was disposed of through brutal assassination, 
and thereafter Prince Ferdinand was the unchallenged 
head of the state. 

TURKISH REVOLUTION 

At last the evils of Turkish misgovernment, not merely 
in Macedonia and Albania but in Thrace and Constanti- 
nople itself, accumulated until they could no longer be 
endured, and a formidable organization known as the 
Young Turks arose whose aim was revolution. For a 
time the Sultan, Abdul Hamid II, strove to suppress it 
and its members worked chiefly in exile in other lands; 
but at last finding it too strong, he affected to yield to its 
demands. In 1908 the world was astonished and gratified 
by the announcement that a constitution had been pro- 
claimed in Turkey and that under it a popular liberal 
government was being organized. It seemed for a time 
as though the tyrant who for a generation had been one 
of the worst criminals that ever defiled even the Turkish 
58 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 

throne had transformed himself into a benevolent servant 
of the people. Religious freedom and equality were 
proclaimed, the people were no longer subjects but citi- 
zens, freedom of speech and of the press were guaranteed, 
universal suffrage and a representative legislature were 
established, and Turkey took its place for the first time 
among the free and enlightened nations of the earth. 
It was fondly thought that we should see the inspiring 
spectacle of a supposedly dying nation rising into newness 
of life. But the promise was not to be so easily fulfilled. 
The Sultan soon showed his lack of sympathy with the 
new era which he himself had inaugurated, and he was 
forcibly deposed and imprisoned and his kinsman, 
Mohammed V, who had spent many years in imprison- 
ment, was placed upon the throne. After this, factional 
strife distracted the empire, old animosities between Moslem 
and Christian arose, old abuses were continued, and the 
experiment of popular government seemed to be in danger 
of faihng. 

THE RAPE OF THE PROVINCES 

Meantime the great powers, or some of them, instead 
of encouraging the regeneration of Turkey, looked on with 
little sympathy and in some cases with actual hostility. 
One of them, Austria-Hungary, assumed an attitude of 
aggressive antagonism. It was evidently feared at Vienna 
and Budapest that Turkey might fully rehabilitate her- 
self and become a great and enlightened power, and so 
might be entitled to reclaim the valuable provinces of 
Bosnia and Herzegovina which Austria-Hungary had been 
holding and governing in trust for her, and might so 
reform the government of Macedonia as to give no pretext 
for alien seizure of those provinces. Accordingly, with a 

59 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 

sordid determination to make sure of those provinces 
which she had in charge, and with a malevolent determi- 
nation to discourage and discredit the new order of things 
in Turkey as much as possible and to cause the experiment 
of liberal government to fail, Austria-Hungary arbitrarily 
seized Bosnia and Herzegovina and annexed them to her 
own conglomerate domain. It was a flagrant violation 
of the Berlin Treaty of 1878 and a cynical application of 
the piratical old rule of the age of force, ^'that they shall 
take who have the power, and they shall keep who can." 
Turkey protested vigorously against the outrage, and 
so did Serbia, to which the reversion of the provinces 
logically belonged, but all in vain. The other powers 
passively assented to or condoned the wholesale theft, 
and Turkey and Serbia were powerless before the huge 
army with which Austria-Hungary backed up her morally 
indefensible act. There was then every prospect that 
Austria-Hungary would presently continue her career 
of aggression and spoliation, by pushing down the Vardar 
Valley through Macedonia and seizing the city and port 
of Salonica, which she had long coveted, and which indeed 
all Europe had regarded as destined to fall into her hands. 

THE BALKAN LEAGUE 

But the rape of the two provinces had another result, 
quite unexpected and undesired by the perpetrator of 
that crime. It caused Serbia and her neighbors to open 
their eyes to the manner in which they were being used 
as pawns and playthings, and to realize the actual designs 
of the great powers toward them. They took to them- 
selves the warning of Byron to the Greeks, ''Trust not 
for freedom to the Franks," and became persuaded that 
''who would be free, themselves must strike the blow." 
60 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 

The Prince of Bulgaria took the initiative. Throwing 
off the last shadowy trace of Turkish suzerainty and of 
the tutelage of the great powers, he proclaimed himself 
no longer Prince, but King, Emperor and Tsar. In this 
assumption of dignity the powers acquiesced, partly 
because they could not easily prevent it and partly because 
they fondly imagined that it would amount to nothing 
more than a change of name. But it did amount to a 
great deal more. The government of Bulgaria and Serbia, 
which because of the rival intrigues and influences of 
Russia and Austria had long been unfriendly and at one 
time had been openly at war, realized that the interests 
of both would be promoted by the establishment of a 
friendly understanding. So negotiations to that end 
were quietly begun, and soon were extended to include 
also Montenegro and Greece. Meanwhile all these four 
powers began, in profound secrecy but with unmatched 
energy and devotion, to stock their arsenals, to recruitj 
and discipline their armies, and to prepare for a war which' 
would be a war to the knife and the knife to the hilt. 

Never, probably, in the history of the world was so 
important and extensive a movement conducted with so 
profound a degree of secrecy and so complete a measure, 
of success. Turkey and all the powers of Europe knew, 
nothing and suspected nothing of what was going on, 
either in diplomacy or in the armies of the Balkan States. 
If any symptoms of the campaign were observed they were 
contemptuously disregarded because of the habit which 
all Europe had formed of refusing to take seriously any- 
thing which the Balkan States might do. But the rulers 
and the peoples of the Balkan States were tremendously 
in earnest. In the early fall of 1911 the Prime Ministers 
of Serbia and Bulgaria met in a railroad car on the frontier 

61 



THE BALKAN*' BATTLEFIELD 

between the two countries. There the outline of a treaty 
of alliance, offensive and defensive, was formed and 
adopted. It was agreed that as Bulgaria was the largest 
of the four states, the headquarters of the alliance should 
be at her capital, Sophia, and in that city on the last day 
of February, 1912, a formal treaty between the two powers 
was signed. At the middle of May following a similar 
treaty was made with Greece and with Montenegro, so 
that by the beginning of summer aU four states were 
firmly united in a Balkan League, which was to last for 
twenty-five years and the object of which was the waging 
of war upon Turkey and the partitioning among the allies 
of a large part of the Turkish domains. It was on August 
13, 1912, that King Ferdinand of Bulgaria presided over 
a council of the four allies, at which it was formally resolved 
that if Turkey did not promptly grant and put into effec- 
tive execution the reforms in Macedonia and elsewhere 
to which she was bound by the Berhn Treaty of 1878, 
then the four Balkan States should unitedly wage war 
upon her. 

PLANS OF CONQUEST 

That resolution was formed on August 13, 1912, and 
ii was agreed that, in order to interfere as little as possible 
with the occupations of the people, the war should be 
started as soon as the farmers had gathered in their autumn 
harvests, which at that time were already beginning to 
ripen in the fields. And down to this time not another 
government in Europe outside of these four ha^ the slightest 
inkling of what was going on and of what was about to 
occur. A few weeks later Bulgaria made peremptory 
demands upon Turkey for the granting of reforms in 
Macedonia, which were as usual, and as was expected, 
62 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 

ignored. Then the mihtary preparations and purposes 
of the allied states began to be hinted at. The great 
powers regarded them with mingled amusement, impatience 
and contempt. The armies and governments of the Balkan 
States had lately been travestied upon the stage as ^'choco- 
late soldiers" and ''puppet kingdoms" and it was uni- 
versally assumed that if they were so foolhardy and 
presumptuous as to begin war they would be speedily 
overwhelmed by the vast and invincible legions of the 
Turks. The Turks were a warrior race, who had no 
superiors in the world as first-class fighting men, and for 
the petty Balkan States to attack them would be much 
like committing suicide; of which fact the allies were 
solemnly warned by the powers. 

But little the powers knew or dreamed of what had 
been going on behind the veil of secrecy which the four 
allies had so well maintained. In October came the 
declaration of war, and then there was seen the spectacle 
of four nations simultaneously springing forth in the 
panoply of war, like the fabled Minerva from the brow 
of Jove. In a twinkling, the streets of Athens, as of 
Belgrade and feophia, were thronged with a populace 
frenzied with zeal to join the colors and to march to the 
conquest of the hated Turkish Empire. The cattle pastures 
of Serbia, the flower gardens of Bulgaria from which the 
world gets its supphes of attar of roses, the rocky heights 
of Montenegro, and the hills and valleys and fertile plains 
of classic Greece, were deserted by every able-bodied man, 
and even by many women who put on male attire and 
marched in the ranks. The ruined temples of Greece, 
which in their prime had seen the triumphs of Platea 
and Salamis and Marathon commemorated, and had 
echoed to the footsteps of Pericles and Xenophon and 

63 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 

Epaminondas, now saw stern musterings of men who had 
inherited the traditions of Thermopylae. And so while 
the great powers of Europe awaked from their slumber 
and gaped and gazed and wondered, there burst through 
the encircling mountain from four sides at once the storm 
of pent-up wrath of centuries upon the hated Turk. 

A SHORT, SWIFT WAR 

Tt was on October 8th that Montenegro declared war 
on Turkey, but her early operations were not important. 
It was not until October 17th that war began between 
Bulgaria and Serbia on the one hand and Turkey on the 
other, and the next day Greece also began to fight. Date 
the beginning of the war, then, at October 17th. In just 
eight days, on October 25th, the Bulgarians had swept 
half way across Thrace and had captured the important 
city of Kirk Kilisse, between Adrianople and Constanti- 
nople; capturing it after a battle and storm which made 
its streets a shambles and a wilderness of ruin. The next 
day a Serbian army, pressing far into the heart of Mace- 
donia, captured the city of Uskub. By October 30th, 
scarcely a fortnight after the declaration of war, the 
Bulgarians had fought at Lule Burgas a four days' battle, 
extending over a line of more than thirty miles, had crumpled 
up and put to rout the main Turkish army of 150,000 
men, had cut Adrianople off from Constantinople, and 
were closely besieging the ancient capital of the Sultans. 
On November 3d, only seventeen days after the declara- 
tion of war, the Turkish Government in its despair begged 
the great powers to intervene to save it from the victorious 
alhes. But the powers, which a few weeks before had 
scorned those allies and had patronizingly warned them 
not to get into trouble by attacking the superior might 
64 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 

of Turkey, now stood in open-mouthed amazement and 
stupefaction, and ventured not to raise a hand or speak 
a word to stay the triumphant tide of war. Five days 
later the Greeks captured the great Macedonian city and 
seaport of Salonica, anciently known as Thessalonica 
to the church in which Paul's Epistle to the Thessalonians 
was addressed. On November 13th, less than a month 
from the beginning of the war, Turkey asked the allies 
for a cessation of hostilities to discuss terms of peace, 
but the conditions which she suggested were not acceptable 
and the campaign went on. On November 18th the 
completion of a month of war was celebrated by the Serbians 
in the capture of Monastir, the most important inland 
city of Macedonia, while the Bulgarian army drove the 
Turks within the lines of Tchataldja, in the very suburbs 
of Constantinople itself. Ten days later, when the Serbians 
triumphantly marched to the shore of the Adriatic at 
Durazzo, gaining the outlet to the sea which their country 
had long desired and needed, the Albanians raised a flag 
of their own, proclaimed their national independence, 
and called upon Austria-Hungary and Italy to recognize 
and protect them. Finally, on December 3d, an armistice 
was signed between Turkey and the allies at the village 
of Kadin Keni, and on December 16th, a day less than 
two months after the beginning of the war, the envoys 
of the five powers met in London to negotiate a treaty 
of peace. In two months' time those ''puppet states," 
as they were contemptuously called, those "chocolate 
soldiers" who had been the favorite butts of ridicule and 
travesty in works of fiction and on the stage, had achieved 
a consummation which no great power would have under- 
taken. They had overthrown and practically annihilated 
the Turkish Empire in Europe, leaving it nothing of all 
6 fi5 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 

its great domain but three or four cities and their environs, 
and these closely besieged. They had waged war in a 
singularly up-to-date method. Ferdinand, King or Tsar 
of Bulgaria, was the first sovereign who ever accompanied 
his armies to war in an automobile, but in such a vehicle 
he did accompany his army throughout its campaign. 
A fleet of aeroplanes was also employed by the allies. 
Lessons in sanitation were learned from the Japanese 
in their marvelous war with Russia. And in brief, the 
supposedly rude and uncouth farmers and mountaineers 
exhibited a degree of efficiency in civilized warfare such 
as had not been surpassed by any European nation. 

MORE MEDDLING 

Now, at the close of the war, the great powers played 
an ignoble part; as they had also done at its beginning. 
Let us consider their moral responsibiHties and duties. 
It was because of their gross and incorrigible neglect to 
enforce their own decrees and to fulfill their own plain 
duty, that the war was provoked. That is the first indict- 
ment against them. The war was their fault. The second 
indictment is that when the war became imminent they 
made no serious efforts to avert it. They were morally 
bound by the treaty of The Hague to use all practicable 
efforts to preserve the peace, but they wholly neglected 
to do so and let the war come on without a single indict- 
ment against them. Then, when the war was ended, they 
repeated one of the capital blunders which they had made 
in 1878, by seeking to seize for themselves the prizes of 
others' victories. They objected especially to letting 
Serbia reap the rewards of her own labors and insisted 
that much of the territory which that gallant little power 
had won by conquest should be taken from her and put 
66 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 

under Austrian protection. It was the same old policy 
of using the Balkan States as tools to serve the selfish ends 
of the great powers. Of course Serbia and her aUies could 
scarcely hope to maintain their rights against Austria- 
Hungary and Germany and Italy united, and so they were 
forced reluctantly to yield and to be despoiled of much 
of the just fruits of their campaign. It was the old story 
of seeking to reap where other men had sown; and of 
ordering the affairs of the Balkans not in the interest of the 
Balkan peoples but for the sordid gain of outside powers. 
Nevertheless, the great powers in self-interest could 
scarcely avoid doing some good work. When Turkey 
demurred to the proposals of the allies and threatened 
to break off negotiations and resume the war, the powers, 
fearful lest the conflict might extend to their own circle, 
exerted moral pressure upon the Porte with the result 
that at last, but most reluctantly, on January 22d, it 
yielded to the allies and consented even to the surrender 
of Adrianople and of the remaining islands of the ^Egean 
Sea. That date may be regarded, therefore, as marking 
the assurance of peace, though it meant disaster to the 
Turkish Government, which the very next day was driven 
from office by an infuriated mob organized and led by the 
Young Turk Party. From the beginning of the war to 
the establishment of an armistice was only forty-seven 
days. From the signing of the armistice to the practical 
agreement on peace was just fifty days. In these ninety- 
seven days was undone the work of centuries. Four 
hundred and sixty years before the Turks had won all the 
Balkan peninsula save only Constantinople and its imme- 
diate suburbs. Now the conditions were exactly reversed, 
and Constantinople and its suburbs were all that was left 
to the once mighty and conquering tribe of Othman. 

67 



THE BALKAN BATTLEFIELD 



The evil meddling of the great powers, however, led to 
a breaking up of the Balkan League and to war among 
its members who had lately been loyal allies; particularly 
between Bulgaria and Serbia; while Austria's interference 
with Serbia, as already related, provided provocation to 
the still greater war which speedily followed. 



\RUSSU 




Provisions of the Treaty of Bucharest, 1913 



68 



Chapter IV 
STORY OF THE CENTRAL POWERS 

Twenty Centuries of German Ambition — Wars with Rome — The Germanic 
Invasion of Gaul — Charlemagne's Conquest and Empire — The First German 
Emperor Nearly a Thousand Years Ago — The Teutonic Order — The Rise of 
Prussia — The Napoleonic Wars — Prussian Militarism — The Creation of the 
Present German Empire — The Hohenzollern Dynasty — A Fortunate Marriage 
— The Electors — Frederick the Great — William I and William II — Twenty 
Sovereigns — The Polyglot Reahn of Austria-Hungary — The German Hapsburgs 
and Their Slavic Subjects — Fortunes and Misfortunes of the House of Austria. 

THE STORY of the Central Powers, the two Teutonic 
empires, dates back two thousand years and more. It 
was in the year 113 B. C. that Teutonic tribes first clashed 
with imperial Rome. They met in battle at Noreia, in 
lUyria, now the southern part of the Austrian Empire, 
and the Teutons and their Cymric aUies were victorious 
over the Roman legions. It is interesting to recall the 
alliance of the Teutons and Cymri, because the latter 
were of the same stock as the ancient Britons. Eleven 
years later Marius avenged this defeat of the Roman arms 
by vanquishing the Teutons, after which there was peace 
for many years. Julius Caesar came into comparatively 
slight contact with the Teutonic or German tribes, with 
whom, however, he reported that the Belgians, who were 
the bravest of all the Gauls, were in almost incessant 
conflict. 

Drusus Germanicus, in 12 B. C, was the first to engage 
in a general war between the Latin and Teutonic worlds. 
He invaded Germany in force and conquered the tribes 
between the Elbe and the Rhine, built a fort near the 

69 



STORY OF THE CENTRAL POWERS 

present site of Liege, and was the first Roman to reach 
the shore of the North Sea, or German Ocean. His brilliant 
conquests, however, were not lasting, and they were 
followed a few years later by a campaign of disaster. 

THE LOST LEGIONS OF VARUS 

It was in 9 A. D. that the next great Roman expedition 
invaded Germany, under the lead of Varus. It pene- 
trated as far as the Teutoberger Wald, the German Moun- 
tain Forest, near Osnabrueck, where it was met bj" a German 
army under Hermann, whom the Romans called Arminius. 
The result was that the three legions of Varus, the very 
flower of the Roman army, were annihilated; and Caesar 
Augustus groveled in pain upon the floor of his Roman pal- 
ace, cr}4ng in anguish, ''Varus ! Give me back my legions !" 

It was too late. The legions were gone, and what was 
stiU more ominous, the German fighting spirit was aroused. 
A little more than two centuries later, in 238, various 
Frankish tribes invaded Gaul, scorning the waning power 
of the empire whose borders the Goths and Vandals were 
ravaging, and in 450 the Germanic tribes began their 
wholesale irruption into Gaul. INIore than three centuries 
later Charlemagne subdued the Saxons and other German 
peoples, and on Christmas day in the year 800 was cro\\Tied 
by the Pope as Emperor of the West, that is, of Germany 
and Gaul. That potent monarch then, in 802, designed 
the two-headed eagle as his emblem, in token of his 
sovereignty over the dual empire of Rome and of Germany. 
That was the origin of the two-headed eagle which is now 
displayed in the imperial escutcheon of Austria, whose 
sovereigns were the last titular successors of Charlemagne; 
while the German coat -of -arms bears the single-headed 
black eagle of Prussia. 
70 



STORY OF THE CENTRAL POWERS 

THE FRANCO-GERMAN FEUD 

We may date the feud between Germany and France 
away back to the year 840. At that time Louis I, sur- 
named the Debonnair, separated those two countries and 
made them antagonistic to each other. France became 
independent, while for some years Germany remained 
subject to Rome. But in 896 the Germans under Arnulph 
marched upon Rome and captured that city, and then, 
on November 8, 911, declared their independence, with 
Conrad I of Franconia as their king A few days later 
the dukes and counts of the various states declared their 
local sovereignty, and their right to choose their own 
national sovereign, and thus constituted themselves 
Electors. So at the death of Conrad they selected 
Henry the Fowler as his successor, and thereafter for 
many centuries the kingly or imperial dignity remained 
elective. 

OTTO THE FIRST EMPEROR 

Otto I, in 962, was the first such Emperor to be formally 
recognized and crowned by the Pope at Rome. After 
him came a series of conquering emperors, who added 
Bohemia, Lorraine and other lands to the empire. Under 
Henry IV, surnamed Hildebrand, there came in 1075 
a memorable conflict with Pope Gregory VII. This first 
led to the crushing defeat of Henry, who, in 1077, went 
to Canossa and did penance by standing in the snow, 
bareheaded, under the Pope's window, until that prelate 
was willing to receive him as a suppliant for mercy. But 
in 1084 Henry avenged himself by capturing the papal 
city and sending Gregory to die in exile the next year at 
Salerno. Then came on the Guelph and Ghibelline feuds, 
the wars which ravaged Italy, the establishment of the 

71 



STORY OF THE CENTRAL POWERS 

famous Teutonic Order of Knighthood in 1190, and the 
election of Rudolph, the first Hapsburg Emperor, in 1273. 
Finally, in 1439, the Pragmatic Sanction settled the imperial 
dignity in perpetuity upon the Hapsburgs, who held it 
until August 11, 1804, when Francis II formally resigned 
it, and the Holy Roman Empire — which, as Lord Bryce 
once wrote, was neither holy nor Roman, nor yet an 
empire — came to an end, 

THE BEGINNING OF PRUSSIA 

Meanwhile, Prussia arose, her rising in a subtle but 
potent manner stimulated by the Hapsburg monopoly 
of the imperial crown. It was in 1415 that Prussia had 
its origin. At that time a petty nobleman, Frederick IV 
of Nuremberg, founder of the HohenzoUern family, became 
Margrave of Brandenburg. He obtained that dignity 
by purchase, for so much cash, from the then Emperor, 
Sigismund of Bohemia, and that Mark of Brandenburg 
became the nucleus of what was to become the kingdom 
of Prussia. Presently the conquest of Porussia, as East 
Prussia was known, because of its proximity to Russia, 
was undertaken by the Teutonic Knights, while Casimir 
of Poland assisted the Porussians in their resistance. 
Albert of Brandenburg, the grand master of the Teutonic 
Knights, in 1575 so far succeeded in the conquest as to 
get himself recognized as Duke of Porussia, or East Prussia, 
though he was compelled to acknowledge the suzerainty 
of Poland. That was another striking incident, the begin- 
ning of Prussia as a fief of Poland! So it remained for 
more than a century and a quarter, until in 1657 Poland 
recognized the complete independence of Prussia, the 
latter state then being under the able reign of Frederick 
William, the Great Elector. 
72 



STORY OF THE CENTRAL POWERS 

PRUSSIA A KINGDOM 

After that events proceeded more swiftly. On January 
18, 1701, Frederick III, Elector of Brandenburg and Duke 
of Prussia, crowned and proclaimed himself King of Prussia, 
and instituted the now famous Order of the Black Eagle. 
He was Frederick I of Prussia, and he considerably added 
to the extent of his domain by purchase and by seizure. 
Then came Frederick II the Great, whose reign marked 
an epoch in European history, and who at his death in 
1786 left Prussia securely established among the great 
powers of the continent. It was Frederick the Great who 
not only threw off the last traces of Polish suzerainty over 
Prussia but also conceived and incited the first Partition 
of Poland. This he did in order to increase the area of 
his kingdom, in order to connect and consolidate East 
Prussia with Brandenburg instead of having them separated 
by Polish provinces, and in order to secure for himself 
the important Baltic seaport of Dantzig and the adjacent 
littoral. Twenty years after his death the kingdom was 
almost extinguished by Napoleon, in and after the battles 
of Jena and Auerstadt. But it was there that Von Stein's 
Tugendbund was organized, and that Scharnhorst secretly 
transformed the people into a nation of soldiers. On 
March 17, 1813, the Prussian nation rose, to lead all 
Germany in a war of liberation, which culminated at 
Waterloo. 

PRUSSIAN RIVALRY WITH AUSTRIA 

From Waterloo down to the revolutionary era of 1848 
Prussia pursued a quiet and uneventful career. In 1848, 
however, a new Constitution was promulgated, and the 
next year a National Assembly of the German States 
elected the King of Prussia '^ hereditary Emperor of the 

73 



STORY OF THE CENTRAL POWERS 



Germans." He declined the honor, but six months later 
it was again proposed for him by Bavaria; in the face 
of vigorous protests from Austria, not only against the 
imperial scheme, but even against any alliance between 




Europe After the Congress of Vienna 

Prussia and any other German state. The result was 
that in the course of a few years most of the German states 
were allied with Austria, and Prussia was left almost alone. 

SEEKING CONTINENTAL DOMINATION 

With the accession of WilHam I, in 1861, the Bismarckian 
era began. Autocratic absolutism suspended the Con- 
stitution in order to force the nation into extreme mili- 
tarism. At that early date plans were made for the domi- 
nation of the continent. First, in 1864, Denmark was 
74 



STORY OF THE CENTRAL POWERS 

despoiled of two provinces, and Austria was discredited. 
In 1866 the German states were peremptorily bidden to 
choose between Prussia and Austria; a federal Diet was 
held at Frankfort, which, under Austrian influence, voted 
for the demobilization of the Prussian army. Prussia 
replied by declaring the Germanic Confederation to be 
dissolved, and then came the war. Austria was crushed, 
a Diet at Augsburg recognized the dissolution of the Ger- 
manic Confederation, Prussia annexed Hanover, Electoral 
Hesse, Nassau and Frankfort and fully incorporated the 
Danish provinces, and a North German confederation 
was formed under Prussian hegemony, with Austria left 
out in the cold as Prussia had been before. The sequel — 
foreseen and planned for at the beginning — was the war 
of 1870, by which France was supposed to be forever 
crushed to the rank of a third-class power, and the new 
German Empire was formed, with Prussia at the head, 
including all of Germany but Austria. Since then, the 
Triple Alliance, the secret treaty with Russia, German 
colonial expansion, and now a war with nearly all the 
rest of Europe, which was meant to make the remainder 
of the European continent a mere appanage to the German 
Empire, but which may result in the ending of that empire. 

THE STORY OF THE HOHENZOLLERNS 

For *' Germany" now read '^ Prussia," and for ''Prussia" 
read ''The HohenzoUerns." It will be fitting to review 
the career of that extraordinary family. 

Albert Achilles stoutly maintained that he could trace 
the descent of the HohenzoUerns directly from one of the 
companions of the Pious ^neas in his flight from burning 
Troy, his episode with Queen Dido at Carthage, and his 
founding of the Latin State from which sprang Rome. 

75 



STORY OF THE CENTRAL POWERS 

It does not appear, however, that he proved his claim to 
such ancestry; though neither did any one ever disprove 
it. The learned Herr Doctor Cernutius, the loyal historian 
of the house of HohenzoUern, was content with tracing 
the line back to the Italian family of Colonna; perhaps 
with more plausibility than marked the ambitious genealogy 
of Albert AchiUes, and perhaps with no less distinction, 
since the ancestral pretensions of the Colonnas are among 
the most ancient and renowned in all the world. 

FIRST APPEARANCE IN HISTORY 

What is certain is that the HohenzoUern family first 
authentically appears in history at about the time when, 
in 1077, the Emperor Henry IV was humiliating himself 
before Pope Hildebrand at Canossa, and that it took its 
name from Hohen Zollern, or Upper ZoUern, its ancestral 
seat among the Suabian Alps. In those days Suabia, 
under the Hohenstaufen dukes and emperors, was one 
of the chief feudatory states of the empire. But after 
the extinction of that dynasty, in 1268, Suabia became a 
"geographical expression," being broken up into a number 
of petty principahties. 

Among these latter were HohenzoUern Sigmaringen and 
HohenzoUern Hechingen, which are now united into that 
single province of HohenzoUern which forms a detached 
and isolated part of Prussia, enclosed by southern Wiii't- 
temberg and Baden. Near the town of Hechingen there 
stands today a magnificent modern castle, erected by 
William II on the site of the ancient home of his ancestors. 

MARRIAGE STARTS RISE 

Like the rival house of Hapsburg, the HohenzoUern 
line owed its first great rise in life to a fortunate marriage. 
76 



STORY OF THE CENTRAL POWERS 

It was at the middle of the twelfth century that Frederick, 
Count of Zollern, became by virtue of marriage Burgrave 
of Nuremberg. That gave him extensive and valuable 
possessions in various parts of Germany, and placed him 
among the most important princes — though not yet an 
Elector — of the empire. So great, indeed, were his posses- 
sions that his two sons divided them between themselves, 
one taking Nuremberg and the Burgraviate and the other 
taking ZoUern and some other territories. It is with the 
former that we have now chiefly to do, as it was from 
that Franconian branch of the family that the Prussian 
line proceeded. From the other, the Suabian branch, 
came that Prince Leopold whose candidacy for the crown 
of Spain was a pretext for the Franco-German War 
of 1870, and that Prince Charles who is now King of 
Roumania. 

THE ACQUISITION OF BRANDENBURG 

The next great event in Hohenzollern history occurred 
in the early part of the fifteenth century. At that time 
the once important principality of Brandenburg had fallen 
into seemingly hopeless decay. The great Ascanian dynasty 
of Anhalt had become extinct, and under feudal law the 
territory had reverted to the Emperor. That monarch, 
Louis of Bavaria, gave it to his two sons, who still further 
ruined it by running it into bankruptcy and alienating a 
part of its area. Then Louis was deposed from the imperial 
throne and was succeeded by Charles of Moravia, who 
thus became proprietor of Brandenburg, and who also 
gave it to his two sons, Wencelaus and Sigismund. They, 
in turn, mortgaged it to their cousin, Justus, and the 
result was that when Sigismund became Emperor he found 
Brandenburg a heavy fiscal burden upon him. 

77 



STORY OF THE CENTRAL POWERS 

For relief he turned to Frederick VI of Hohenzollern, 
Burgrave of Nuremberg. Finally, Frederick later was 
permitted to take possession of it. He became Frederick I, 
Margrave of Brandenburg and an elector of the empire. 
At his death in 1440 he ordered his possessions to be divided 
among his four sons. Two of them, however, waived their 
claims, and so the domain was temporarily divided into 
only two parts, Frederick II taking Brandenburg and 
Albert taking Nuremberg. Frederick was surnamed "The 
Iron" because of his firmness in subduing towns to his will, 
as his father had subdued the barons. It was he who made 
Berhn the capital of Brandenburg, and thus the destined 
capital of Prussia and of Germany. Thitherto Tanger- 
muende on the Elbe had been the seat of the Margraves of 
Brandenburg. 

POSSESSIONS REUNITED 

Frederick died in 1470, without issue, and was succeeded 
by his brother Albert, under whom the family possessions 
were thus reunited. This was Albert Achilles, thus sur- 
named because of his prowess as a soldier. His successor 
was John Cicero, so called because of his oratorical gifts. 

John's successor, the fourth elector, was Joachim Nestor, 
who was thus dubbed not because of his personal wisdom 
so much as because of his friendly patronage of learning 
and his foundation of the University of Frankfort on 
the Oder. It was his unhappy fate to have to deal with 
the Reformation and to fail to appreciate its significance. 
Joachim remained loyal to Rome, though his wife and 
sons and the great majority of his people became Protes- 
tants. He exiled his wife for her change of faith, and 
also began the German Judenhetze by ordering the expulsion 
of all Jews from his dominions. 
78 



STORY OF THE CENTRAL POWERS 

SOME NOTABLE ELECTORS 

His son, Joachim H, was surnamed Hector because 
of his truculent spirit. It is recorded that once, in an after- 
dinner controversy, he drew his sword upon the famous 
Duke of Alva. He publicly adopted the Protestant religion, 
and confiscated the monasteries and other property of 
the Roman Catholic Church. He was a reckless 
spendthrift in scattering that wealth abroad. He 
was succeeded by his son, John George the Econ- 
omist, who was noted for his thrift and business 
methods. Also, it may be said, the Economist was 
the father of twenty-three children, of whom the last 
was born after John George's death at the age of 
seventy-three. 

Joachim Frederick, the eighth elector, had an uneventful 
reign. But the ninth, John Sigismund, marked another 
epoch in two ways. One was his substitution of Calvinism 
for Lutheranism. The other was his acquisition of the 
Dukedom of Prussia. 

The latter state had been formed under the suzerainty 
of Poland, and Albert of HohenzoUern of the Nuremberg 
branch of the family, grand master of the then moribund 
Order of Teutonic Knights, on the advice of Martin Luther, 
had made himself its first duke. On his death in 1618, 
without direct male heir, his kinsman, John Sigismund, 
who had married Albert's granddaughter, received from 
Poland recognition of his succession as duke. Under 
his successor, the weak and vacillating George WiUiam, 
the realm was made the prey of both factions in the Thirty 
Years' War; and, while George WilHam was ultimately 
forced by Gustavus Adolphus to declare himself on the 
Protestant side, his delay gave opportunity for Tilly's 
sack of Magdeburg. 

79 



STORY OF THE CENTRAL POWERS 

FOUNDER OF PRUSSIA 

Next came the Great Elector, the real founder of the 
Prussian state, whose monument is one of the landmarks 
of Berlin. This was George William's son, Frederick 
William. He signalized his accession by ''estabhshing 
sovereignty," as he called it. In fact, it was the establish- 
ment of absolute autocracy. Also he compelled the Emperor 
to renounce his suzerainty over Brandenburg, and Poland 
to recognize the complete independence of Prussia. Thus 
he consolidated the whole realm under his own personal rule. 

Frederick founded the military power of Prussia, devel- 
oping a standing army, at first for domestic purposes, to 
impose his will upon the provinces, and afterward to make 
Prussia respected and feared abroad. As the ally of 
Sweden in the latter's war with Poland, he captured Praga, in 
the suburbs of Warsaw; and later, when the Swedes became 
allied with the French and invaded Brandenburg, he inflicted 
upon them at Fehrbelhn one of the most crushing defeats in 
history. He also waged maritime war against Spain. 

Frederick III, son and successor of the Great Elector, 
was perhaps the weakest and least worthy of all the hne. 
Yet he did some important things. He founded the Uni- 
versity of Halle and the Prussian Academy of Sciences. 

Next came his son, Frederick William I, whom Macaulay 
described as ''a prince who must be allowed to have 
possessed some talents for administration, but whose 
character was disfigured by odious vices and whose eccen- 
tricities were such as had never before been seen out of a 
madhouse." 

FREDERICK THE GREAT 

His son, so vilely persecuted and put in peril of death 
by his inhuman father, was the illustrious Frederick the 
80 



STORY OF THE CENTRAL POWERS 



Great, who is said to have been acknowledged to be a 
great man by every one who ever wrote or spoke of him, 
excepting his own much-loved and highly gifted brother, 
Prince Henry. The latter was himself one of the very 




.^„. A.N^^, < POLAND 



..i3i.!l ,^~fx^Sr-. < (BOHEMIA r'^ 



Mitz '^•--J^,. C O N F-^ED E R A T I O "N ^/ 

£■> ^7- ' BERG >^ :j, ^'VtiL * '. -^ 

^6#"^f. ^SS. i ... ? ^ i V^ 
/^ .'•' / •' •" ""^ <i -5C\ ' 

(i / oBERNE Va^^?**^ c "V '' 

^...' SWITZERLAliD *-■ / ^ -^ V 

..■■■■■^..Lausanne '^ , ,.■. .A -^ ^'^ ""■"•• >lt 

*^ '' .■': r(,.-.^ ) '■ <^ / 

•■■Geneva ,. < . .,.■ ■• ^: Trent ) "^ 1-- 



;LOMBAfiDY /V/ VENE.IIA 




Soundary of German 
Confederation shoivn thuj 

Boundaru of Prustia 
5howp thus- 
Other Boundaries thus 



f^any small German 
States have been omit 
ed from this map. 
tngl'Sh Milti 



The German Confederation in 1815 

ablest captains of his age, perhaps second only to Frederick, 
and was certainly capable of appreciating greatness in 
others. That he was moved by jealousy of Frederick 
is scarcely conceivable. On the other hand, Frederick 
never wearied of expressing appreciation and admiration 
of his bi'other. 

6 81 



STORY OF THE CENTRAL POWERS 

It was Frederick who placed Prussia among the great 
powers of Europe and who opened the way for placing 
her in Austria's old place at the head of the Teutonic 
world. Then he died, childless, and left the crown to the 
son of his brother, Augustus William, who, as Frederick 
William II made of his court a harem, characterized with 
a flagrant grossness of debauchery seldom rivaled in any 
civilized capital. For eleven years Ufe in BerHn was an 
orgy, and the foreign activities of Prussia were either 
brutal spoliation, as in the partitions of Poland; or dis- 
graceful failures, as in the attack upon the French Revo- 
lution. 

CRUSHED BY NAPOLEON 

The one bright spot in the dark scene was presented 
by the purity of the domestic Hfe of the Crown Prince 
and his consort, the beautiful and gifted Louise of Meck- 
lenburg. But when this prince came to the throne as 
Frederick William III he showed himself as weak a King 
as he was a good man. Vacillating and hesitant, he at 
last opposed Napoleon, and was crushed at Jena and sent 
into long exile at Memel, leaving his Queen to be insulted 
by Napoleon and to die of a broken heart. Yet he must 
be credited with the choice of such administrative geniuses 
as Stein and Hardenberg, and he shared in the achieve- 
ments of Leipzig and Waterloo. He promised Prussia a 
constitution, but died with that promise unfulfilled, leaving 
to his son, Frederick William IV, an absolute despotism. 

Frederick WiUiam IV also delayed to fulfill that promise 
of his father's, though urged to it by the multitudinous 
appeals of the Prussian people. A man of attractive 
personality, he was pedantic, bigoted, and in pohtics 
almost fanatical in his adherence to the doctrine of divine 
82 



STORY OF THE CENTRAL POWERS 

right. So he drifted bhndly into the Revolution of 1848, 
which he suppressed, but to which he was forced to yield 
so far as to grant the long-delayed constitution. Ten 




Prusso-German Acquisition, 1866 and 1871 

years later he became paralytic and irftbecile, and was 
replaced by his brother as regent, and on his death three 
years later as King. 



OLD ''kaiser WILHELM" 

That brother was William I, the grandfather of the 
present King and Emperor. At his succession he was 

83 



STORY OF THE CENTRAL POWERS 

probably the most hated man in all Prussia. Because 
of his stern and ruthless policy of suppressing the mob, 
the Revolution of 1848 raged against him more than against 
the King, and he was compelled to flee from Berlin in dis- 
guise to save his life, passing himself off as ^'Herr Francis 
J. Lehman, commercial traveler." 

Nor did his early acts as King seem designed to conciliate 
the people and win their affection. His — or his Minister 
Bismarck's — cynical and defiant overriding of the con- 
stitution which had been won after so long a struggle, 
increased dishke and distrust. The war for the spoliation 
of Denmark was intensely unpopular, and so was that 
against Austria in 1866. But he succeeded. In that was 
the redeeming feature of his career. Moreover, he was 
recognized as brave, frank, manly and truthful. And 
when at last he won the great war against France, and 
made Prussia the chief state of a new German Empire, 
of which the Prussian kings were forever to be emperors, 
he became as much beloved as he had ever been hated; 
and died in old age the idol of the German people. 

VERSAILLES OFFER NOT FIRST 

It is interesting to recall that it was not at Versailles, 
in 1871, that the imperial crown of Germany was first 
offered to the King of Prussia. It was, as already men- 
tioned, offered to Frederick Willielm IV in the strenuous 
days of 1848, but was refused by him. Why? Because 
it was offered to him by the German people and his divine 
right principles would not permit him to accept it from 
such a source. Had it been offered by the '' heaven- 
ordained" princes he would have accepted it without 
hesitation! At Versailles, in 1871, the offer of the crown 
was made to William I by the princes of Germany, and, 
84 



STORY OF THE CENTRAL POWERS 

therefore, he accepted it; being about as great a stickler 
for ''divine right" and having as much contempt for the 
people as his brother. 

After WiUiam I came his son, Frederick III, the Noble, 
for a three-month reign; one of the knightliest figures 
that ever graced a throne. Latest of all, comes the present 
King and Emperor, William 11. 

THE LATEST HOHENZOLLERN 

The story of the latest sovereign of the HohenzoUern 
hne is not yet complete. It is being written upon the 
map of the world in characters of blood and fire and utter 
devastation. But one salient fact stands out obvious and 
undisguisable. That is, a paradox comparable with any 
of those which mark his exemplar, Frederick the Great. 
For when, in the early years of his reign, everybody was 
apprehensive lest he should prove an international fire- 
brand and involve all Europe in war, he sedulously culti- 
vated and maintained the peace. On the other hand, 
after twenty-five years of peaceful reign, when people 
were generally regarding him as one of the great bulwarks 
of peace, he became involved in and involved nearly all 
Europe in the greatest war of history. 

Twelve electors, nine kings, and three emperors; but, 
since one was both elector and king, and three both kings 
and emperors, a total of twenty sovereigns. Such is the 
record of the house of HohenzoUern. Much more than 
any other sovereign house now occupying a throne, it 
has for centuries been intimately and commandingly 
associated with the greatest mihtary and diplomatic 
transactions of the European continent, but never before 
with any approximating the present in importance not 
only to that family but also to all the world. 

85 



STORY OF THE CENTRAL POWERS 

AUSTRIA AND THE HAPSBURGS 

Those inclined to regard omens might see much signifi- 
cance in the course of Austria during the last generation. 
The ancient injunction to that land, or to its rulers, the 
Hapsburgs, was Bella gerant alii; tu, felix Austria, 
nube — let others wage wars; do thou, fortunate Austria, 
gain thine ends by marriage. In modern j^ars Austria 
has been making unfortunate marriages, and has vainly 
sought to gain her ends by means of war. And it is one 
of the impressive facts of history that scarcely once in 
her more than eleven centuries of existence has Austria 
been entirely successful in an aggressive war, unless through 
the aid of powerful allies, while seldom has she been 
victorious even in self-defense, even against inferior powers. 
On the contrary, she has been beaten again and again, 
by almost every power with which she has come into 
contact. 

CHRONICLES OF DISASTER 

When the Hapsburg dukes came into possession of 
the Eastern Mark, six centuries and a third ago, they 
extended their domain ''by marriage, by purchase and 
otherwise,'' but Httle, if at all, by force of arms, unless 
those of their allies. The one great Hapsburg victory 
in battle, the Marchfeld, was won by others than Austrians. 
The Swiss beat Austria repeatedly, at Morgarten and 
at Sempach. The Turks beat her, besieging Vienna and 
compelling the payment of much tribute as the price of 
her retention of territories beyond the Leith. The Poles 
beat her in the days of Rudolph II. The French beat 
her in the days of Ferdinand III and took Alsace from her 
in the Peace of Westphalia. The Hungarians and Turks 
beat her badly and again besieged Vienna, and would have 
86 



STORY OF THE CENTRAL POWERS 

taken that capital and conquered all Austria had not 
John Sobieski and the Poles come to the rescue. 

It is true that the famous Prince Eugene did win some 
notable victories over the Turks, though not solely with 
Austrian forces; but the fruits of them had to be largely 
relinquished. Frederick the Great of Prussia beat Austria 
badly, and she was saved from ruin only by the succor 
given by the Hungarians and other allies. Again in the 
Seven Years' War the great Frederick vanquished her. 
The French revolutionists beat her and drove her out of 
Lombardy and the Netherlands. Napoleon defeated her, 
and in 1809 despoiled and humiliated her at will. In the 
Grand Alliance, at Leipsic and elsewhere, the leadership 
was given to her for political reasons, and she merely 
shared in the victories of her alhes. 

The Venetians beat her in 1848, and though she did 
recoup that loss she quickly suffered defeat at the hands 
of the Hungarians, and was saved only by the intervention 
of Russia. The Sardinians and French overwhelmed her 
in 1859, and she was saved from far heavier losses 
than those which she actually suffered only by the 
perfidy of Louis Napoleon in betraying and selling 
out his ally. Finally, in 1866, Prussia inflicted upon 
her one of the most crushing and humiliating defeats 
in history. 

A POLYGLOT AND PATCHWORK REALM 

We commonly speak of Austria-Hungary as the ''Dual 
Realm." It is in fact manifold. No other in the world 
is of so varied and complex formation. Austria alone, 
not reckoning polj^glot Hungary, consists of seventeen 
states, called ''lands." Of these three are kingdoms, 
namely, Bohemia, Dalmatia, and Gahcia and Lodomeria 

87 



STORY or THE CENTRAL POWERS 

united. The two from which the whole empire takes its 
name, Upper Austria and Lower Austria, are archduchies. 
Six are duchies — Bukovina, Carinthia, Carniola, Salzburg, 
Silesia and Styria. Two, Goerz-Gradisca and Tyrol, 
are princely countships. Two, Moravia and Istria, are 




Races of the Austrian Empire in 1915 

margraviates. Trieste and its environs form a special 
crown land, and Vorarlberg is simply a '4and." 

Each of these seventeen '4ands" has its own local 
legislature, or Diet, ranging in numbers of members from 
twenty-four in Vorarlberg to 242 in Bohemia. These 
bodies, elected for six years and meeting yearly, legislate 
like American state legislatures on all matters not specifi- 
cally reserved for the Imperial Parliament. They control 
taxation, education and public works, and in Tyrol and 
Vorarlberg they have control also of the militia, and their 



STORY OF THE CENTRAL POWERS 

consent is necessary for its employment in any other 
provinces of the empire. 

MANY TRIBES AND TONGUES 

As might be supposed, the populations of these various 
provinces differ greatly in racial composition. The two 
Austrias (Upper and Lower), Salsburg, Tyrol, Vorarlberg 
and much of Carinthia and Styria, are occupied chiefly 
by Germans, who are found also around the edges of 
Bohemia and in much of Silesia. The rest of Silesia and 
the greater parts of Bohemia and Moravia are occupied 
by the Czechs. Western Galicia is Polish, as is also a small 
part of Silesia. Eastern Galicia and part of Bukovina 
are the home of the Ruthenians. In Carniola, Goerz- 
Gradisca, Istria, southern Styi'ia and Trieste the Slovenes 
predominate, though the Italians and Ladini are also found 
there and also in Tyrol and the towns of Dalmatia. Serbs 
and Croats are numerous in Istria and Dalmatia, and 
Bukovina is largely given up to Roumanians. 

The total population of the empire in 1900 was 26,107,304, 
and at the present time it may be as much as 29,000,000. 
Estimating it at the latter figure, the Germans may be 
reckoned at about 9,500,000, the Slavs at 18,500,000, 
and the Italians and Ladini, with a few Magyars and 
others, at 1,000,000. 

GERMANS DOMINANT 

Although the Germans thus form a small minority, 
they have always been dominant because of their unity 
and the lack of unity among the Slavs. The Hapsburg 
dynasty is, of course, purely German. Therefore the court 
is German, and so is the great mass of the aristocracy. 
The chief objection of the other Hapsburgs and the court 

89 



STORY OF THE CENTRAL POWERS 

to the Countess Chotek, the wife of the late Archduke 
Francis Ferdinand, was not merely that she was not of 
royal blood, but that she was not Austrian, being a member 
of an ancient Czech family of Bohemia. Until recently, 
too, the Germans formed a majority of the educated and 
wealthy classes. Above all, perhaps, they have had the 
advantage of language. For of all the many tongues of 
the empire, German is the only one that is of world-wide 
use and that possesses a Uterature generally known to the 
world. ^ [:j 

It has long been the aim of the Germans to Germanize 
the empire. This ambition first was openly manifested 
in the golden days of Maria Theresa, the greatest of all 
Austrian sovereigns. She decreed that the German language 
should be taught in every school and that every one of her 
subjects should learn it. Her successor, Joseph II, went 
still further, and made it the official language of the empire. 

In spite of all these efforts, however, the Slavs have long 
been increasing in numbers far more rapidly than the 
Germans, and have also been increasing their political 
and other influence. 

HUNGARY ALSO COMPOSITE 

The Kingdom of Hungary is only a little less composite 
than the Empire of Austria. With a population of 
21,030,000 it comprises 10,050,575 Hungarians or Magyars, 
2,037,435 Germans, 1,967,970 Slovaks, 2,949,032 Rou- 
manians, 1,833,162 Croats, and 1,106,471 Serbs. The 
Slovaks, Croats and Serbs are, of course, Slavs, numbering 
together 4,907,603. Adding these to the Slavs in Austria, 
we have a grand total of nearly 23,500,000 Slavs in the 
realms of a sovereign who began this world strife with a 
war against Slavs! 
90 



Chapter V 
THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

Redemption from Czarism in the War — Fall of the German Romanoff 
Dynasty — The Drama of a Thousand Years — Rurik and the Varangians — 
Early Designs Upon Constantinople — Batthng with the Tartars — Origin of 
the Romanoff Dynasty — Peter the Great and His "Window Looking on Europe" 
— Winning Recognition as a European Power — The Struggle for the Sea and the 
Struggle for Liberty — The Later Czars — Nihihsm and Its Crimes — Despotism 
of the Holy Synod — "Red Sunday" and the Revolution — EstabUshment of 
the Duma — Last Struggle of Absolutism — German Intrigues During the War — 
The Final Uprising of the People — The Russian Republic. 

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION is thus far the most 
significant achievement of the war. Doubtless it would 
have come in time, without the war; but doubtless also 
the war hastened it. There was an unconscious adumbra- 
tion of it at the very beginning of the war, effected by the 
Czar himself. That was when he changed the name of 
the capital from the German form St. Petersburg to the 
Russian Petrograd. It would have been well for him and 
his family if he could at the same time have abolished 
German influence along with the German name. Him- 
self by ancestry more German than Russian, and his 
wife almost wholly German, he was unable to get rid of 
the malign German influences which largely controlled 
the court, even though he was at war with Germany. 
In consequence, the people ultimately rose and swept 
him and the whole Romanoff dynasty, more German than 
Russian, out of existence. The Russian Republic is the 
greatest fact in the world's politics thus far in the twentieth 
century. 

91 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

It is therefore fitting that we briefly review the drama 
of more than a thousand j^ears, of which this transcendent 
achievement is the culmination. 

RURIK, OLEG AND IGOR 

We must turn back the pages of history more than ten 
and a half centuries to legendary times; when the great 
Norse chieftain Rurik and his two brothers invaded Russia 
with the Varangian crews of many Viking galleys, and 
founded Veliki Novgorod, the Great New Town, which 
long disputed with Moscow and Kieff the primacy among 
Russian cities. Rurik was succeeded by his son Igor, 
who during his minority was guided by the Regent Oleg, 
the Charlemagne of the North. It was Oleg who in the 
year 907 led an army to the very walls of Constantinople 
and thus first established the Russian design of possessing 
that city. The Greeks bought him off by making a favor- 
able treaty. But in 941 Igor again attacked the city, 
with a fleet on the Black Sea and Bosporus said to have 
included thousands of boats. He was repelled by the use 
of Greek fire; but returned to still another attack, and 
then was bought off. Igor met with a fate premonitory 
of many subsequent tragedies in the Russian Imperial 
line. Some of his rebellious subjects bent two stout trees 
together until their top branches touched near the ground, 
tied his right hand and foot to one tree and his left hand 
and foot to the other, and then released them. After- 
ward Igor's widow went to the city of Korosten, now 
Iskorosk, whose people did this thing, and pretended to 
wish to make peace. All she asked was that every house- 
holder in the city would give her a tame pigeon from his 
dove-cote. They readily complied with this request, 
whereupon, at evening, she released all the birds and let 
92 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

them fly back home, each with a burning firebrand tied to its 
tail; and thus destroyed the city. Igor begat Sviatoslav, who 
begat Vladimir, who begat Yaroslav, who begat Vsevolod, 
who begat Vladimir II, surnamed Monomachus, the first 
crowned ruler over all the Russian tribes and cities. 

DOLGOROUKIS OLDER THAN ROMANOFFS 

The youngest of the eight sons of Vladimir Monomachus 
was Uril of Souzdal, surnamed Dolgorouki, or the Long 
Armed; founder of the Dolgorouki family which has 
ever since been conspicuous in Russian affairs. The 
seventh of his eleven sons was Vsevolod II; the fourth 
of his eight sons was Yaroslav; and the fourth of his 
nine sons was that illustrious Alexander who won the 
surname of Nevski, ''of the Neva," by his brilliant victory 
over the Swedes in 1240. The fourth son of Alexander 
Nevski was Daniel, the first of the line of Princes of 
Moscow. Daniel begat Ivan, who begat Ivan II, who 
begat Dimitry, or Demetrius, who won the surname of 
Donskoi, ''of the Don," by his great victory over the 
Golden Horde of Tartars at Kulikovo, "the Field of the 
Woodcocks." A son of Dimitry was Vasili, or Basil, 
whose first son was another Vasili, called the Darkened, 
because during his reign he was taken prisoner by some of 
his hostile cousins and had his eyes burned out with a 
red hot sword. Vasili the Darkened was the first Russian 
Prince to be crowned at Moscow. After him came his 
son Ivan the Great, who was succeeded by his son Vasili III, 
who in turn was succeeded by the most monstrous figure 
in all Russian history, Ivan the Terrible, whose atrocities 
precipitated the extinction of the direct line of Rurik, 
and so gave opportunity for the ushering in of the Romanoff 
Dynasty. 

93 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

ROMAN OF GALICIA 

Now let US turn back to Vladimir Monomachus, whose 
line we have traced through and from his eighth son, 
Urii of Souzdal. Vladimir's first son was Mstislav, Grand 
Prince of Kieff, whose first son was Isiaslav, whose first 
son was Mstislav II. The first son of Mstislav II was 
Roman, of Galicia and Volhynia, and his first son was 
Daniel, surnamed Romano vitch and called "King of 
Galicia," who in his time was one of the most conspicuous 
and important princes in Eastern Europe and the founder 
of the Romanovitch branch of the family of Rurik. 

Again let us turn back to Ivan, Grand Prince of 
Moscow, son of Daniel and grandson of Alexander Nevski. 
We have traced his line through and from his third son, 
Ivan II, father of Dimitry Donskoi. The first Ivan's 
first son was Simeon, Grand Prince of Moscow, known as 
Simeon Ivanovitch, and Simeon the Proud. He was the 
first to call himself Grand Prince of All the Russias and 
to proclaim Moscow as the supreme capital. He died 
of the Black Death in 1353 and was buried at Moscow 
in the Cathedral of St. Simeon, which he built. To his 
court at Moscow there came in 1341 from Eastern Prussia 
one Andrei, or Andrew, Kobyla, a nobleman adventurer, 
and entered his service. This Prussian became a Russian, 
prospered greatly, and had a son Feodor, or Theodore, 
Koschka, who married a princess of the Romanovitch 
branch of the line of Rurik and became the founder of 
four great Russian families, of which two, the Scheremetieffs 
and the Romanoffs, are distinguished to this day. It 
is a curious coincidence that Nicholas II degraded 
his brother, the Grand Duke Mikhail, and excluded him 
from any share in the tercentenary celebration of the 
Romanoffs, for no other offense than marrying a member 
94 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

of this very Scheremetieff family which sprang from the 
same source as the Romanoffs themselves. Feodor had 
a son Ivan, who had a son Sakhariya Ivanovitch, who 
in turn had a son, Roman Sakhariya vitch. The last 
named had two children, a son and a daughter. The 
son, Nikita, married Eudoxia Alexandrovna, a descendant 
of Andrei, eldest brother of Alexander Nevski, of Rurik's 
line. The daughter, Anastasia, became the first wife of 
Ivan the Terrible in 1547. 

THE SONS OF IVAN 

Ivan the Terrible the first Tsar of Russia, conqueror 
of Siberia, had numerous wives, and from his domestic 
infamies proceeded the downfall of his house. Anastasia 
Romanovna, the daughter of Roman Sakliariyavitch, 
bore him a son, Dimitry, who died in infancy; a second 
son, Ivan, whom the Tsar himself murdered; a third son, 
Feodor, and a daughter, Eudoxia; and then was herself 
murdered by court conspirators. A year later Ivan married 
a Tcherkess girl, whom he renamed Maria and who bore 
him a son, named either Vasili or Dimitry, who died in 
a few weeks. Maria died in 1569, and three years later 
Ivan married Martha Sobakin, who died within an hour 
of the wedding. A few months later he married Anna 
Koltovskoi, who was childless and whom he accordingly 
put into a convent so that he might marry another Anna, 
whom he also presently got rid of. In 1580 he married 
Maria Nagoi, and the next year planned to dispose of her 
and to marry Lady Mary Hastings, of England, if he 
could get her. But in the nick of time Maria Nagoi bore 
him a son, whom he named Dimitry, and thus saved 
herself from divorce or death. Happily Ivan himself 
died in 1584. 

95 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

The successor to the throne was Feodor, son of Ivan 
the Terrible and Anastasia Romano vna. He was a weakling 
and was little more than a puppet in the hands of the Duma 
of five, of which the dominant members were Boris 
Godounoff, whose sister Irene was Feodor's wife, and 
Nikita Romanoff, Feodor's maternal uncle. Nikita died 
in 1586, however, leaving Boris supreme. Presently the 
Polish throne fell vacant and Boris put Feodor forward 
as a candidate for election to it. Feodor could probably 
have secured it and thus have united Russia and Poland, 
but for his stubborn refusal to be croTMied at Cracow or 
to recognize the Roman Catholic religion which prevailed 
in Poland. Thereupon the Poles elected Sigismund Vasa, 
of Sweden, to be their Eng and by so doing planted the 
seeds of great trouble between Poland and Russia. Next 
arose a conspiracy against Feodor by the Nagoi family, 
all of whose members had been banished from Moscow 
to Ought ch. This was ruthless^ suppressed by Boris 
and resulted in the sending of the first political exiles 
to Siberia. A little later, in 1591, the young Prince Dimitry, 
who had been permitted to remain at Ouglitch was found 
dead with his throat cut. Suspicion was directed against 
Boris, but he discreetly had an inquest held by some of 
the very persons who suspected him, with the result that 
he was vindicated, the verdict being that Dimitry had 
killed himself in a fit of epilepsy. 

BORIS, THE GREAT BOYAR 

Feodor had but one child, a daughter, who died in 
infancy. In 1598 he himself died, and his widow retired 
to a convent. Boris Godounoff was thus left supreme 
and was presently elected Tsar, and for years reigned with 
skill and justice, winning rank as one of Russia's best 

96 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

sovereigns. He hoped to form a dynasty of his own, 
however, and thus feared the rivalry of the four sons of 
his former colleague, Nikita Romanoff. Accordingly he 
sent the eldest of them, Feodor, into a monastery, and 
threw the others, Alexander, Vasili and Mikhail, or Michael, 
into prison. Boris, who was the founder of the system 
of serfdom and also of the Russian State Church, died 
on April 13, 1605, supposedly of poisoning, and was suc- 
ceeded by his fifteen-year-old son, Feodor. But the latter 
was soon swept away by an adventurer who was put forward 
by the King of Poland as the son of Ivan and Maria Nagoi; 
the story being that the youth who was found at Ouglitch 
with his throat cut was not Dimitry at all but one of his 
attendants. This impostor, who was probably Gregory 
Otrepier, an agent of Polish Jesuits, seized the Imperial 
crown, and threw the boy Tsar, Feodor, and his mother 
into prison, where they were soon murdered. Then he 
brought Maria Nagoi back from her convent prison and 
compelled her to recognize him as her son. Then, con- 
sidering his place secure, he brought a Polish bride, Marina 
Mnishek, to Moscow, with a great train of Poles and 
Cossacks. At this the people of Moscow revolted. Under 
the lead of Vasili Shouyskie, the man who had conducted 
the inquest on the body of young Dimitry at Ouglitch, 
and who was accordingly convinced that the Tsar Dimitry 
was an impostor, they stormed the palace, threw the 
pretender from the window, and slew him with their swords. 
Then Maria Nagoi recanted her recognition and declared 
that he was not her son. 

THE DAYS OF THE PRETENDERS 

Vasili Shouyskie, leader of the Tsar-slaying mob, was 

next proclaimed Tsar, in the spring of 1606, but was not 

' 97 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

long permitted to enjoy his sovereignty in peace. Pre- 
tenders sprang up as if by magic, chiefly on the fertile soil 
of Poland, whose King, Sigismund Vasa, was intent upon 
becoming the master of Russia. One story was that the 
false Dimitry had escaped when the palace was stormed, 
that the man who was thrown from the window and killed 
was not he but some one impersonating him, and that 
Dimitry himself was safe in Poland. Another story 
related to another person altogether, w^ho was said to be 
the real Dimitry of Ouglitch. A third pretender called 
himself Peter, son of Feodor Ivanovitch — who, as already 
related, had only one child, a daughter, who died in infancy. 
This pretender raised an army of Don Cossacks, but was 
defeated and slain. A fourth pretended to be a son of 
Ivan the Terrible; a fifth, the son of Ivan, the murdered 
son of Ivan the Terrible; and no fewer than eight more 
claimed to be sons of Feodor Ivanovitch. Of all this 
array none proved to be formidable. But in the spring 
of 1608 still another false Dimitry appeared under Polish 
patronage, who invaded Russia with a considerable army 
of Poles and Cossacks, penetrated almost to the environs 
of Moscow^, and established a rival imperial court at 
Toushin. There Marina Mnishek met him and declared 
him to be her husband, the original false Dimitry, and 
many Russian cities swore allegiance to him. 

Stubborn resistance was made to him, however, by the 
city of Rostov, where Feodor Romanoff was Metropolitan 
Bishop under the name of Philaret. In the end, however, 
the city fell, and Philaret was captured and let to Dimitry 
at Toushin, with the expectation of being put to death. 
Dimitry, thinking thus to strengthen his own position, 
greeted him in friendly fashion as a beloved kinsman 
of "our late half-brother/' the Tsar Feodor Ivano- 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

vitch, and made him Patriarch of Moscow and of All the 
Russias. 

RUSSIA IN ANARCHY 

Vasili still held out at Moscow against the pretender 
at Toushin, and civil war raged. But by 1610 Dimitry's 
cause waned and was evidently doomed to failure. There- 
upon Sigismund of Poland himself invaded Russia and 
put forward his son Vladislav as a candidate for the throne. 
Vasili in his desperation committed injudicious acts which 
provoked Moscow to revolt against him, and in July of 
that year he was forced to abdicate, and was sent to a 
monastery. A Duma, or Council of Nobles, was formed 
to conduct the government until another Tsar could be 
chosen. This Council hesitated for a time between the 
latest false Dimitry and Vladislav, but finally offered 
the crown to the latter, and many swore allegiance to him. 
At this crisis the Patriarch, Philaret, otherwise Feodor 
Romanoff, intervened for the salvation of Russia. He 
led a large delegation of ecclesiastics and nobles from 
Moscow to meet Sigismund at Smolensk, which city he 
was besieging, to inquire whether Vladislav, if accepted 
as Tsar, would adopt for himself the Orthodox Russian 
religion. The reply given was evasive and unsatisfactory, 
and the envoys were convinced that Sigismund was seeking 
the Russian crown for himself and was using his son as 
a mere mask. Philaret therefore sought to rouse the people 
of Moscow against the Polish Prince. The nobles, how- 
ever, betrayed the city into the hands of the Poles and 
the latter came in and took possession. Philaret was 
seized and sent as a prisoner to Poland. In Passion Week 
of 1611 civil war raged in the streets and nearly all of the 
city was burned, the Poles, however, still holding the 

99 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

citadel. Soon after Sigismund captured Smolensk, while 
Novgorod gave its allegiance to Karl, the second son 
of the King of Sweden. The Cossacks at Moscow were 
inclined to hail as Tsar an infant son of Marina Mnishek, 
while yet another false Dimitry arose at Ivangorod and 
established himself at Pskov. Chaos was complete and 
Russia seemed ruined beyond repair. 

SEEKING A SAVIOR 

Then at Nijni Novgorod a patriotic uprising began, 
led by a cattle dealer and butcher named Kozma Minin- 
Soukhorouk and by Prince Dimitry Pojharskie. The 
former professed to have had a divine call, like that of 
Joan of Arc, and thus aroused much religious enthusiasm. 
A large army was organized, led by Prince Dimitry, and 
it moved slowly forward toward the capital. It entered 
into negotiations with the Swedes, and seemed inchned 
to accept Karl as Tsar if he would adopt the Russian 
religion. Near Moscow it encountered the Poles and 
Cossacks, and won a hard battle. Thus warned, on 
October 24, 1612, the Poles in the Kremlin released a 
crowd of prisoners whom they had been holding there, 
including among them Mikhail Feodorovitch Romanoff, 
the son of Philaret. The next day the Poles surrendered 
the Kremlin and marched out, and the Russians reoccupied 
that citadel. This event marked the turning point of 
the crisis of Russian history. Sigismund, who had been 
moving toward Moscow, now halted and soon retired to 
Poland. 

Russia thus being freed from serious invasion, the digni- 
taries of church and state set to work upon the important 
task of selecting a new Tsar. The direct line of Rurik 
was extinct, and there was a strong repugnance to the 
100 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

election of any foreign prince. By common consent 
attention was generally turned toward Mikhail, or Michael, 
the son of Philaret. It was observed that the Romanoffs 
were closely connected by marriage with the line of Rurik. 
If they were to be credited with no great achievements, 
on the other hand they were to be charged with no serious 
misdeeds. There was nothing with which to reproach 
the young Prince. He had engaged in no political intrigues 
like those of Boris and Vasili. The son of the Patriarch, 
he was sound in the Orthodox religion. He had no rela- 
tionship nor sympathy with the Nagois and other con- 
spirators. Moreover his name Mikhail, was the same 
as that of Mikhail Skopin-Shouyskie, the brilliant young 
hero of a recent war who had been the idol of the Russian 
people and had been foully murdered. 

THE FIRST ROMANOFF 

In such circumstances and under such considerations 
the representatives of church and state were soon agreed 
in supporting the candidacy of the young Romanoff Prince. 
In ''Orthodox Week" of Lent, 1613, the Archbishop of 
Riazan, with a group of distinguished associates, faced 
a great conclave of Russian noblemen and clergy in the 
Red Square of Moscow, and asked who should be Tsar. 
There was a universal shout of ''Mikhail Feodorovitch 
Romanoff!" Thereupon envoys were sent to the Ipatewski 
Monastery at Kostroma, where Mikhail and his mother 
had taken refuge. The mother was reluctant to have her 
son proclaimed Tsar. Her husband was still a prisoner 
in the hands of the Poles and in peril of death, and she 
feared that her son would share the fate of so many other 
murdered princes. At last, however, she yielded, and 
on May 2, 1613, Mikhail entered the Kremlin as Tsar- 

101 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

elect. On July llth following he was crowned in the 
Ouspienskie Cathedral, and the Romanoff dynasty was 
fully established. For a year he and his associates had 
hard work to reorganize the disordered finances of the 
empire and to suppress various rebellions. It was harder 
still to settle with Sweden and Poland, but he was greatly 
aided by England in making peace with the former power, 
and on December 1, 1618, he made peace with Poland, 
though at the cost of surrendering a number of Russian 
cities. For this he was repaid, however, by the release 
of his father, Philaret, who came home in safety and was re- 
elected to the Patriarchate. With Mikhail at the head of the 
state and Philaret at the head of the church, the Russian 
Empire seemed to have emerged from its time of trouble. 
I The reign of Mildiail, for thirty-two years, in its quiet- 
ness and moderation presented a striking contrast to the 
stormy era which had preceded it. It was partly the 
quietness of national exhaustion and partly that induced 
by the wisdom and benevolence of the Tsar's father, 
Philaret, whose name was always joined with that of 
Mikhail in imperial decrees. The next Tsar, Mikhail's 
son Alexis, for thirty-one years showed himself an able, 
broad-minded sovereign, both progressive and aggressive, 
who codified Russian laws, developed trade, cultivated 
friendly relations with other countries, incorporated the 
Ukraine and the whole Cossack country with Russia, 
and regained the cities which his father had been com- 
pelled to relinquish to Poland. The third Romanoff, 
Feodor II, in half a dozen years did little save to neglect 
the good works of his predecessors. His chief claim to 
remembrance is that he destroyed the pedigree books 
which had long been a prolific source of bickering and 
wrangling among the nobihty. 
102 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

PETER THE GREAT 

Then came another crucial epoch in Russian history. 
There were two claimants of the throne, Ivan and Peter, 
sons of Alexis by his first and second wives. The dispute 
was compromised by letting the two reign jointly under 
the regency of Sophia, Ivan's elder sister. That arrange- 
ment lasted until the death of Ivan seven years later, 
when Peter sent Sophia to a convent and alone assumed 
the reins of autocracy. This was that Peter who gave 
Russia a frontage on the Black Sea and on the Baltic, 
who built St. Petersburg to be "a window looking on 
Europe;" who crushed Charles XII of Sweden at Pol- 
tava; who suppressed Mazeppa and the Little Russians; 
who conquered Esthonia, Livonia, Viborg and other Baltic 
provinces; who created a Russian navy and mercantile 
marine; who abolished the system of oriental seclusion 
of women and oriental dress for men, and who well-earned 
his title of Great. 

After his thirty-six years came his widow, Catherine 
I, who for her two years was content to let the govern- 
ment be conducted by Menshikoff , who had as a boy peddled 
cakes in the streets until he was taken up, for his good 
looks, as one of Peter's numerous favorites. He remained 
all-powerful during Catherine's reign, but soon after the 
accession of Peter II, son of Alexis, he was deposed and 
exiled by the Dolgorouki family, who led a reactionary 
revolution. Peter reigned only three years and at his 
death Russia fell almost into chaos again, amid the con- 
flicting claims of rival candidates. A secret council of 
nobles finally selected Anna of Courland, daughter of 
Ivan, the brother of Peter the Great, as sovereign. This 
choice was based upon the fact not that her claim was 
the strongest of all the candidates but that it was the 

103 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

weakest; the idea being that on that account she would 
be most subservient to the nobles. She indeed signed 
a document accepting terms which they imposed upon 
her, making her a mere puppet and vesting all real authority 
in the High Council. But she soon repudiated that con- 
tract and made her favorite lover, Biren, a German Cour- 
lander of low birth, supreme. Biren distinguished him- 
self by sending more than 20,000 political exiles to Siberia. 
Anna died after ten years on the throne and was succeeded 
by her grand-nephew, Ivan IV. Within the year Biren 
was expelled from court, Ivan was deposed and sent to 
prison for life, and Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Peter 
the Great, succeeded him. During her twenty years' 
reign Russia became assertive, made much advance in 
literature and the arts and defeated Frederick the Great 
of Prussia. She let the government be conducted chiefly 
by two of her favorites and finally drank herself to death. 
Her nephew Peter III succeeded her, but as she had brought 
him up in seclusion and ignorance he was utterly unfit 
for the place. He was a mere puppet in Prussian hands 
and gave back to Frederick the Great all that Elizabeth 
had taken from him. At that his wife, although herself 
a German Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst, repudiated him and 
led the Orloffs and other nobles in deposing, imprisoning 
and murdering him. He was strangled to death by Alexis 
Orloff, who soon after betrayed to her death Princess 
Catherine, a daughter of the Empress Elizabeth. 

CATHERINE THE GREAT 

These tragedies left Catherine, widow of the murdered 
Peter, supreme, and for thirty-four years she was one of 
the greatest sovereigns Russia ever had, and at the same 
time one of the most infamous of women in all the history 

104 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

of the world. The splendor of her conquests and annexa- 
tion of territory, of the international prestige which she 
had for Russia, and of her law-giving to the Empire was 
rivaled only by the monstrosity of her vices and the 
depths of moral degradation to which she and her suc- 
cession of favorites plunged the Russian court. After 
her for five years came her son Paul, who began as a saint 
and ended as a demon and a lunatic and Was assassinated 
by his own courtiers just as he was at the point of joining 
Napoleon Bonaparte for the conquest of India. His 
son, Alexander I, was the Tsar who dealt with Napoleon 
at Eylau, Tilsit, Moscow and Leipsic; who added Finland, 
Poland, Bessarabia and much of the Caucasus to his 
empire; who founded the Holy Alhance and thus pro- 
voked the promulgation of the Monroe Doctrine, and 
who was driven almost to insanity by fear of assassination 
at the hands of the seditious secret societies which then 
began to spring up all over Russia. At the end of his 
twenty-four years his son Nicholas became Tsar for thirty 
years; a pronounced reactionary, who defeated and 
despoiled Persia and Turkey, who crushed the Poles and 
Hungarians, and who died of a broken heart in the Crimean 
War. His son, Alexander II, was as liberal and progres- 
sive as he had been reactionary, and gained fame as the 
liberator of the serfs; but perished after twenty-six years 
as the victim of a Nihilist bomb thrower. His son, 
Alexander III, peace-loving and domestic, reigned for 
fourteen years in terror and darkness, for fear of sharing 
his father's fate, and was thus driven to an untimely grave. 

THE LAST OF THE CZARS 

His son and successor, Nicholas II, reigned more than 
twenty-two years and completed three hundred years of 

105 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

the Romanoff Dynasty. In his titles he epitomized the 
history and geography of the Russian Empire. He was 
officially styled the Emperor and Autocrat of All the 
Russias, of Moscow, of Kieff, of Vladimir, of Novgorod; 
Czar of Kazin, of Astrakhan, of Poland, of Siberia, of 
Kherson-Taurida, of Grousi; Gousadar of Pskoff; Grand 
Duke of Smolensk, of Lithuania, of Volhynia, of Podolia, 
and of Finland; Prince of Esthonia, of Livonia, of Cour- 
land, of Semigalia, of the Samoyedes, of Bielostok, of 
Corelia, of Foer, of Ingor, of Perm, of Viatka, of Bulgaria 
and of other countries; Master and Grand Duke of the 
Lower Countries of Novgorod, of Tchernigoff , . of Riazan, 
of Polotsk, of Rostoff, of Jaroslaff, of Bielosersk, of Ondork, 
of Obdorsk, of Kondisk, of Vitelsk, of Metilaff, and of 
all the countries of the North; Master Absolute of Iversk, 
of Kastalnisk, of Kabardinsk; and of the territory of 
Armenia; Sovereign of the Mountain Princes of Tscherkask; 
Master of Turkestan; Heir Presumptive of Norway and 
Duke of Schleswick-Holstein, of Stomarne, of Dithmarse, 
and of Oldenburg. 

A GERMAN DYNASTY 

It must be observed that under a strict interpretation 
of the usual rule of dynastic descent, the Romanoff line 
would be held to have terminated with the death of the 
Empress Elizabeth in 176L For her successor, Peter III, 
was the son of Elizabeth's sister Anna, whose husband 
was the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. As a sovereign is 
attributed to the house of his father and not of his mother, 
therefore, Peter III was not a Romanoff but a Holstein- 
Gottorp, and was the first Tsar of a new dynasty, to which 
all Russian sovereigns since belonged. The Russian 
court insisted, however, that the greater family must 
106 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

have precedence over the less. Accordingly, when Anna 
Romanoff, daughter of Peter the Great, married Charles 
Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp, the offspring of that union 
was held to be more Romanoff than Holstein-Gottorp. 
The Holstein-Gottorp alliance, however, was not ignored, 
and Peter HI and all subsequent sovereigns were credited 
to the "House of Romanoff-Holstein." 

There was thus a certain fitness in the circumstance 
that this German dynasty which long had tyrannized 
over Russia should come to an end in a war with Germany, 
and as one of the results of that war. 

NIHILISM AND BIGOTRY 

The end of Czarism was precipitated partly by Nihilism 
and its crimes of violence, which maintained a reign of 
terror throughout the Empire while Alexander III was 
on the throne, and partly by the bigotry of the Procurator 
of the Holy Synod, who during that period was the power 
behind the throne. This fanatical ecclesiastic persuaded 
the Czar that the murder of his father and the other woes 
of Russia had been judgments of heaven, as punishment 
for laxity of faith and for too great tolerance of Jews and 
Dissenters. Accordingly a vast campaign of persecution 
was maintained, with repeated "pogroms" or massacres 
of Jews, and these things were continued in the reign of 
Nicholas II. 

These things, added to the great losses of the war with 
Japan, led to widespread disaffection among the Russian 
people, and the organization of a revolutionary move- 
ment. In January, 1905, occurred "Red Sunday." A 
great multitude of workingmen, led by a priest, approached 
the Winter Palace for the purpose of presenting a petition 
to the Czar for an increase of civil rights. They were 

107 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

ntirely peaceful in their demeanor, and offered no violence 
hatever. But the troops fired upon them, and hundreds 
w^ere slain. 

CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT 

There followed general disorder throughout the Empire, 
until in October, 1905, the Czar proclaimed a constitution 
and the establishment of a Duma, or national Parhament. 
The latter body met for the first time in April, 1906. It 
was dissolved on July 8th, having done little or nothing. 
A second Duma met in March, 1907, and had a stormy 
and ineffective career. The third met in December, 1907, 
and became a really authoritative and efficient legislative 
body. Thereafter there was a persistent fight for exten- 
sion of parliamentary and popular power, and restriction 
of the autocratic powers of the Czar. In this struggle 
the democracy made slow but steady gains, and Russia 
was moving toward a genuine constitutional system. 

The outbreak of the great war found government and 
people apparently united for a vigorous and unrelenting 
prosecution of the campaign. It was at the beginning 
of September, 1914, that the Czar by personal decree 
changed the name of the capital to Petrograd, and that 
moment marked the zenith of his reign. Soon there began 
to be perceptible indications of German influence. This 
was not sufficient to cause Russia's withdrawal from the 
war. But it did seriously hamper and at times defeat 
the operations of the armies. German spies continually 
betrayed Russian military plans to the enemy; and those 
spies were members of the court circle, if not of the imperial 
family. Worse than that, supplies of arms and ammuni- 
tion were withheld from the Russian army, thus dooming 
it to defeat. The great disasters in Poland were probably 
108 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

chiefly attributable to this cause. The Russian army 
was without suppHes, although there were abundant supphes 
in the hands of the government. 

THE END OF THE CZARS 

This treason was fatal to the dynasty, which was not 
unreasonably held responsible for it. The people were 
incensed, and, of course, the army was too. In consequence 
the army, instead of supporting the throne against the 
people, as thitherto, became itself the leader in revolu- 
tionary aspirations, and manifested a readiness to join 
with the people in overthrowing a dynasty which was the 
tool of alien foes. In March, 1917, came the end. There 
was a wholesale uprising of the people against the Czar. 
Some violence and loss of life occurred, but the troops in 
general mutinied and fraternized with the people. The 
Czar and his family were taken as prisoners of state, and 
the abdication of Nicholas II in behalf of his brother was 
exacted. After brief consideration, that brother declined 
to accept the crown unless he should be elected Czar by 
the free votes of the Russian people. 

A few days later the leaders of the Duma, who were in 
control of the government, decided not to retain the 
monarchy, but to organize a republican form of govern- 
ment, and to remove from office all members of the Roman- 
off or Holstein-Gottorp family, even including the Grand 
Duke Nicholas who had been so efficient and loyal a leader 
of the Russian army. Czarism had partially betrayed 
Russia, and Russia was done with Czarism and with all 
in any way connected with it. The Russian Empire was 
ended; the Russian Republic was begun. 



109 



Chapter VI 
THE ALLIED POWERS 

France and Her Vital Interests in the War — Germany's Former Attempts 
to Destroy Her and then to Woo Her as an Ally — The Russian Alhance — The 
Entente Cordiale between France and Great Britain — Practically a Triple Entente 
— Belgium as a Neutral State — Animosity between Great Britain and Germany — 
Why Great Britain was Compelled to Enter the War — Japan Drawn into Alliance 
with Her Former Foe — Italy's Anomalous Position in the Triple Alliance — Her 
Reason for Withdrawing from It and for Entering the War against Her Former 
AUies — Portugal an Old Ally of Great Britain. 

THERE ARE no such things as traditional friends or tra- 
ditional foes among the nations of the world. That fact 
is writ clear and large in the alignment of the powers in 
the great war. There are among the important European 
belligerents scarcely two enemies which were not formerly 
allies, and scarcely two allies which were not formerly foes. 
Observe : 

Great Britain and Germany, or in the last analysis Eng- 
land and Prussia, are the bitterest of all foes. Yet never 
before were they at war with each other, but in the last 
preceding general European war, which ended at Waterloo, 
they were allies. Russia and Germany are foes; yet never 
before did they fight each other, but more than once were 
allies. Italy is at war with Germany, but it is for the first 
time, and Prussia was practically Italy's ally in 1866 and 
1870. 

Great Britain and France are allies; yet they have 
hitherto fought each other more than any other two pow- 
ers of Europe. They are both allies of Russia, yet they 
both fought Russia in the Crimea. Russia and Japan are 
110 



THE ALLIED POWERS 



allies; yet only a few years ago they were foes in a mighty 
war. Germany and Austria are allies; but they were foes 
in 1866. 

Germany's drive at france 
Of all the warring powers, France had at the beginning 
perhaps the most vital interest in the war. It was to her 
a matter of Hfe or death. The ancient quarrel, dating 
from the time of Charlemagne's sons, between her and 
Germany, was revived in 1870 by Germany on the strength 
of a falsified dispatch, deliberately falsified by Otto von 
Bismarck in order to drag France into war. As a result 
of that war France was robbed of two provinces and of a 
cash indemnity so vast that it was supposed she would 
be unable to pay it, or that in paying it she would be hope- 
lessly impoverished and ruined. To the chagrin of Ger- 
many, she paid it promptly and regained more than her 
old prosperity; whereupon a few years later Germany 
sought to force another war upon her with the confessed 
intention of ''bleeding her white." The diplomatic inter- 
vention of Great Britain balked this scheme of Germany's, 
and thus planted the seeds of that hatred of Great Britain 
which Germany has ever since cherished. Then Germany 
devoted herself to the incitement of enmity between France 
and Great Britain and also to efforts to induce France to 
join her in war against the ''modern Carthage," as Ger- 
man statesmen called the United Kingdom. 

France spurned these German overtures, and instead 
entered at first into an entente and then into a complete 
alliance with Russia. Under the diplomatic influence of 
Edward VII of England the irritation and estrangement 
which had for some time existed between France and 
Great Britain, largely through German marplotry, were 

111 



THE ALLIED POWERS 



allayed and an entente cordiale was established, which 
under George V became practically an alliance. And at 
the same time France was the means of bringing Russia 
and Great Britain into friendly relations and into something 
like an entente. All this intensified the wrath of Germany 
against France, and the result was that when the German 
Emperor decided to begin his long cherished war for the 
conquest of the world he aimed his first blow at France. 
Knowing that she was unprepared, he hoped to crush her 
completely before any other powers could come to her aid. 
Having done that, he could turn his triumphant armies 
against the next foe that appeared. 

NEUTRAL BELGIUM 

The chief blow at France was struck through Belgium, 
and it was thus that Belgium was brought into the war. 
The direct frontier between Germany and France was so 
strongly fortified by the French that a rapid invasion in 
that quarter was impossible. But the invasion to be suc- 
cessful must be rapid, so rapid as to assure the capture of 
Paris before the French army could be put on a war foot- 
ing or British or Russian armies be brought into the field. 
The French frontier abutting upon Belgium was unforti- 
fied, and invasion there would be easy, if only Belgium 
would give passage to the German army. 

This, of course, Belgium refused to do. The German 
Government strove to get Belgian consent, at first with 
bribes and blandishments and later with menaces. But 
Belgium was inflexible in her refusal; for a reason which 
the German imperial and official mind seemed unable to 
understand. That was, good faith and honor. Belgium 
was a neutral state. Her neutrality and the inviolability 
of her territory had been guaranteed by the powers, Ger- 
112 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

sovereigns. He hoped to form a dynasty of his own, 
however, and thus feared the rivalry of the four sons of 
his former colleague, Nikita Romanoff. Accordingly he 
sent the eldest of them, Feodor, into a monastery, and 
threw the others, Alexander, Vasili and Mikhail, or Michael, 
into prison. Boris, who was the founder of the system 
of serfdom and also of the Russian State Church, died 
on April 13, 1605, supposedly of poisoning, and was suc- 
ceeded by his fifteen-year-old son, Feodor. But the latter 
was soon swept away by an adventurer who was put forward 
by the King of Poland as the son of Ivan and Maria Nagoi ; 
the story being that the youth who was found at Oughtch 
with his throat cut was not Dimitry at all but one of his 
attendants. This impostor, who was probably Gregory 
Otrepier, an agent of Polish Jesuits, seized the Imperial 
crown, and threw the boy Tsar, Feodor, and his mother 
into prison, where they were soon murdered. Then he 
brought Maria Nagoi back from her convent prison and 
compelled her to recognize him as her son. Then, con- 
sidering his place secure, he brought a Polish bride, Marina 
Mnishek, to Moscow, with a great train of Poles and 
Cossacks. At this the people of Moscow revolted. Under 
the lead of Vasili Shouyskie, the man who had conducted 
the inquest on the body of young Dimitry at Ouglitch, 
and who was accordingly convinced that the Tsar Dimitry 
was an impostor, they stormed the palace, threw the 
pretender from the window, and slew him with their swords. 
Then Maria Nagoi recanted her recognition and declared 
that he was not her son. 

THE DAYS OF THE PRETENDERS 

Vasili Shouyskie, leader of the Tsar-slaying mob, was 

next proclaimed Tsar, in the spring of 1606, but was not 

f 97 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

long permitted to enjoy his sovereignty in peace. Pre- 
tenders sprang up as if by magic, chiefly on the fertile soil 
of Poland, whose King, Sigismund Vasa, was intent upon 
becoming the master of Russia. One story was that the 
false Dimitry had escaped when the palace was stormed, 
that the man who was thrown from the window and killed 
was not he but some one impersonating him, and that 
Dimitry himself was safe in Poland. Another story 
related to another person altogether, who was said to be 
the real Dimitry of Ought ch. A third pretender called 
himself Peter, son of Feodor Ivanovitch — who, as already 
related, had onty one child, a daughter, who died in infancy. 
This pretender raised an army of Don Cossacks, but was 
defeated and slain. A fourth pretended to be a son of 
Ivan the Terrible; a fifth, the son of Ivan, the murdered 
son of Ivan the Terrible; and no fewer than eight more 
claimed to be sons of Feodor Ivanovitch. Of all this 
array none proved to be formidable. But in the spring 
of 1608 still another false Dimitry appeared under Polish 
patronage, who invaded Russia with a considerable arm^' 
of Poles and Cossacks, penetrated almost to the environs 
of Moscow, and established a rival imperial court at 
Toushin. There Marina Mnishek met him and declared 
him to be her husband, the original false Dimitry, and 
many Russian cities swore allegiance to him. 

Stubborn resistance was made to him, however, by the 
city of Rostov, where Feodor Romanoff was Metropolitan 
Bishop under the name of Philaret. In the end, however, 
the city fell, and Philaret was captured and let to Dimitry 
at Toushin, with the expectation of being put to death. 
Dimitry, thinking thus to strengthen his own position, 
greeted him in friendly fashion as a beloved kinsman 
of "our late half-brother/' the Tsar Feodor Ivano- 
98 * 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

vitch, and made him Patriarch of Moscow and of All the 
Russias. 

RUSSIA IN ANARCHY 

Vasili still held out at Moscow against the pretender 
at Toushin, and civil war raged. But by 1610 Dimitry's 
cause waned and was evidently doomed to failure. There- 
upon Sigismund of Poland himself invaded Russia and 
put forward his son Vladislav as a candidate for the throne. 
Vasili in his desperation committed injudicious acts which 
provoked Moscow to revolt against him, and in July of 
that year he was forced to abdicate, and was sent to a 
monastery. A Duma, or Council of Nobles, was formed 
to conduct the government until another Tsar could be 
chosen. This Council hesitated for a time between the 
latest false Dimitry and Vladislav, but finally offered 
the crown to the latter, and many swore allegiance to him. 
At this crisis the Patriarch, Philaret, otherwise Feodor 
Romanoff, intervened for the salvation of Russia. He 
led a large delegation of ecclesiastics and nobles from 
Moscow to meet Sigismund at Smolensk, which city he 
was besieging, to inquire whether Vladislav, if accepted 
as Tsar, would adopt for himself the Orthodox Russian 
religion. The reply given was evasive and unsatisfactory, 
and the envoys were convinced that Sigismund was seeking 
the Russian crown for himself and was using his son as 
a mere mask. Philaret therefore sought to rouse the people 
of Moscow against the Polish Prince. The nobles, how- 
ever, betrayed the city into the hands of the Poles and 
the latter came in and took possession. Philaret was 
seized and sent as a prisoner to Poland. In Passion Week 
of 1611 civil war raged in the streets and nearly all of the 
city was burned, the Poles, however, still holding the 

99 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

citadel. Soon after Sigismund captured Smolensk, while 
Novgorod gave its allegiance to Karl, the second son 
of the King of Sweden. The Cossacks at Moscow were 
inclined to hail as Tsar an infant son of Marina Mnishek, 
while yet another false Dimitry arose at Ivangorod aod 
established himself at Pskov. Chaos was complete and 
Russia seemed ruined beyond repair. 

SEEKING A SAVIOR 

Then at Nijni Novgorod a patriotic uprising began, 
led by a cattle dealer and butcher named Kozma Minin- 
Soukhorouk and by Prince Dimitry Pojharskie. The 
former professed to have had a divine call, like that of 
Joan of Arc, and thus aroused much religious enthusiasm. 
A large army was organized, led by Prince Dimitry, and 
it moved slowly forward toward the capital. It entered 
into negotiations with the Swedes, and seemed incUned 
to accept Karl as Tsar if he would adopt the Russian 
religion. Near Moscow it encountered the Poles and 
Cossacks, and won a hard battle. Thus warned, on 
October 24, 1612, the Poles in the Kremlin released a 
crowd of prisoners whom they had been holding there, 
including among them Mikhail Feodorovitch Romanoff, 
the son of Philaret. The next day the Poles surrendered 
the Kremlin and marched out, and the Russians reoccupied 
that citadel. This event marked the turning point of 
the crisis of Russian history. Sigismund, who had been 
moving toward Moscow, now halted and soon retired to 
Poland. 

Russia thus being freed from serious invasion, the digni- 
taries of church and state set to work upon the important 
task of selecting a new Tsar. The direct line of Rurik 
was extinct, and there was a strong repugnance to the 
100 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

election of any foreign prince. By common consent 
attention was generally turned toward Mikhail, or Michael, 
the son of Philaret. It was observed that the Romanoffs 
were closely connected by marriage with the line of Rurik. 
If they were to be credited with no great achievements, 
on the other hand they were to be charged with no serious 
misdeeds. There was nothing with which to reproach 
the young Prince. He had engaged in no political intrigues 
like those of Boris and Vasili. The son of the Patriarch, 
he was sound in the Orthodox religion. He had no rela- 
tionship nor sympathy with the Nagois and other con- 
spirators. Moreover his name Mikhail, was the same 
as that of Mikhail Skopin-Shouyskie, the brilliant young 
hero of a recent war who had been the idol of the Russian 
people and had been foully murdered. 

THE FIRST ROMANOFF 

In such circumstances and under such considerations 
the representatives of church and state were soon agreed 
in supporting the candidacy of the young Romanoff Prince. 
In ''Orthodox Week" of Lent, 1613, the Archbishop of 
Riazan, with a group of distinguished associates, faced 
a great conclave of Russian noblemen and clergy in the 
Red Square of Moscow, and asked who should be Tsar. 
There was a universal shout of '^Mikhail Feodorovitch 
Romanoff!" Thereupon envoys were sent to the Ipatewski 
Monastery at Kostroma, where Mikhail and his mother 
had taken refuge. The mother was reluctant to have her 
son proclaimed Tsar. Her husband was still a prisoner 
in the hands of the Poles and in peril of death, and she 
feared that her son would share the fate of so many other 
murdered princes. At last, however, she yielded, and 
on May 2, 1613, Mikhail entered the Kremlin as Tsar- 

101 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

elect. On July 11th following he was crowned in the 
Ouspienskie Cathedral, and the Romanoff dynasty was 
fully established. For a year he and his associates had 
hard work to reorganize the disordered finances of the 
empire and to suppress various rebellions. It was harder 
still to settle with Sweden and Poland, but he was greatly 
aided by England in making peace with the former power, 
and on December 1, 1618, he made peace with Poland, 
though at the cost of surrendering a number of Russian 
cities. For this he was repaid, however, by the release 
of his father, Philaret, who came home in safety and was re- 
elected to the Patriarchate. With Mikhail at the head of the 
state and Philaret at the head of the church, the Russian. 
Empire seemed to have emerged from its time of trouble. 
The reign of Mikhail, for thirty-two years, in its quiet- 
ness and moderation presented a striking contrast to the 
stormy era which had preceded it. It was partly the 
quietness of national exhaustion and partly that induced 
by the wisdom and benevolence of the Tsar's father, 
Philaret, whose name was always joined with that of 
Mikhail in imperial decrees. The next Tsar, Mikhail's 
son Alexis, for thirty-one years showed himself an able, 
broad-minded sovereign, both progressive and aggressive, 
who codified Russian laws, developed trade, cultivated 
friendly relations with other countries, incorporated the 
Ukraine and the whole Cossack country with Russia, 
and regained the cities which his father had been com- 
pelled to rehnquish to Poland. The third Romanoff, 
Feodor II, in half -a dozen years did little save to neglect 
the good works of his predecessors. His chief claim to 
remembrance is that he destroyed the pedigree books 
which had long been a prolific source of bickering and 
wrangling among the nobihty. 
102 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

PETER THE GREAT 

Then came another crucial epoch in Russian history. 
There were two claimants of the throne, Ivan and Peter, 
sons of Alexis by his first and second wives. The dispute 
was compromised by letting the two reign jointly under 
the regency of Sophia, Ivan's elder sister. That arrange- 
ment lasted until the death of Ivan seven years later, 
when Peter sent Sophia to a convent and alone assumed 
the reins of autocracy. This was that Peter who gave 
Russia a frontage on the Black Sea and on the Baltic, 
who built St. Petersburg to be "sl window looking on 
Europe;" who crushed Charles XII of Sweden at Pol- 
tava; who suppressed Mazeppa and the Little Russians; 
who conquered Esthonia, Livonia, Viborg and other Baltic 
provinces; who created a Russian navy and mercantile 
marine; who abolished the system of oriental seclusion 
of women and oriental dress for men, and who well-earned 
his title of Great. 

After his thirty-six years came his widow, Catherine 
I, who for her two years was content to let the govern- 
ment be conducted by Menshikoff, who had as a boy peddled 
cakes in the streets until he was taken up, for his good 
looks, as one of Peter's numerous favorites. He remained 
all-powerful during Catherine's reign, but soon after the 
accession of Peter II, son of Alexis, he was deposed and 
exiled by the Dolgorouki family, who led a reactionary 
revolution. Peter reigned only three years and at his 
death Russia fell almost into chaos again, amid the con- 
flicting claims of rival candidates. A secret council of 
nobles finally selected Anna of Courland, daughter of 
Ivan, the brother of Peter the Great, as sovereign. This 
choice was based upon the fact not that her claim was 
the strongest of all the candidates but that it was the 

103 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

weakest; the idea being that on that account she would 
be most subservient to the nobles. She indeed signed 
a document accepting terms which they imposed upon 
her, making her a mere puppet and vesting all real authority 
in the High Council. But she soon repudiated that con- 
tract and made her favorite lover, Biren, a German Cour- 
lander of low birth, supreme. Biren distinguished him- 
self by sending more than 20,000 political exiles to Siberia. 
Anna died after ten years on the throne and was succeeded 
by her grand-nephew, Ivan IV. Within the year Biren 
was expelled from court, Ivan was deposed and sent to 
prison for life, and Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Peter 
the Great, succeeded him. During her twenty years' 
reign Russia became assertive, made much advance in 
literature and the arts and defeated Frederick the Great 
of Prussia. She let the government be conducted chiefly 
by two of her favorites and finally drank herself to death. 
Her nephew Peter III succeeded her, but as she had brought 
him up in seclusion and ignorance he was utterly unfit 
for the place. He was a mere puppet in Prussian hands 
and gave back to Frederick the Great all that Elizabeth 
had taken from him. At that his wife, although herself 
a German Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst, repudiated him and 
led the Orloffs and other nobles in deposing, imprisoning 
and murdering him. He was strangled to death by Alexis 
Orloff, who soon after betrayed to her death Princess 
Catherine, a daughter of the Empress Elizabeth. 

CATHERINE THE GREAT 

These tragedies left Catherine, widow of the murdered 
Peter, supreme, and for thirty-four years she was one of 
the greatest sovereigns Russia ever had, and at the same 
time one of the most infamous of women in all the history 
104 







ome of 
Carpa 
imbere 
and wi 




^^9C 




S P ft) 




S-rf 3 Oi 




P O t» r<- 




< S ' c 










crq S^--3 




I-! -" -x 3 








?t- tr ^ 




«> c ^, 




O tK r/i P 




g rl- r+S 




C-o 3 0- 




C P 5i H 




3 El P ;/) 


> 


s^s-;; 


?c 


p o o P 


c^ 


gerly 
ws a 
rgan 
,nd a 


i» 




P- n' f^ ^ 


•z 


!onteste 
harge o 
ations i 
aptabih 


n 

o 
> 






° S e: C(q 


o 


k-i 


> 


CD o c 2 


S) 




o 


its of 
ossac 
and 
d we 


5 


^^^ I^Tr^ 


K 


^^ ^-' 


t?d 


~ tt) >-! X 




n 


O p 3 P 

^ 0,0 r+ 


> 
2 


«,'-"3 o 


^ 


•^ ■-* „ o 














O CB ^ fo 




tr'^ 2.0 




j-.tbP 3 




o^CR 3 ^ 




,he s 
bat 
hter 
thei 






^ ?= S"5 




c ^9 







£-3^ o 
His H-< 
o >-! 3-2 

o o^ 



P crq 
£.3' 





p v ^ 

S ^ a;~=: 

? S ^ 

f-c 03 QJ cy-) 

-C O , 

• S-W ^ 

S ^ 3 tt 

a3 "^ 03 o 

c c ^ " 



?; o ^ 

C oi s ^ 

- >>•- = 

C Oj tH rt 

> c *^ 

L_, CJ tn OJ ^-* 

t;^ -T3 t, V 4) 

• 1S Oi ^ ^03 

'-' o -"^ I "S 

g ^ 0/ 

bC C 



H ^ ^ t-, 






-S M 



H ^ r-- 






0; +3 



o 



0-3 



C-O . 03 
■ S 03 03 '^ 






^ 



ill 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

of the world. The splendor of her conquests and annexa- 
tion of territory, of the international prestige which she 
had for Russia, and of her law-giving to the Empire was 
rivaled only by the monstrosity of her vices and the 
depths of moral degradation to which she and her suc- 
cession of favorites plunged the Russian court. After 
her for five years came her son Paul, who began as a saint 
and ended as a demon and a lunatic and was assassinated 
by his own courtiers just as he was at the point of joining 
Napoleon Bonaparte for the conquest of India. His 
son, Alexander I, was the Tsar who dealt with Napoleon 
at Eylau, Tilsit, Moscow and Leipsic; who added Finland, 
Poland, Bessarabia and much of the Caucasus to his 
empire; who founded the Holy Alliance and thus pro- 
voked the promulgation of the Monroe Doctrine, and 
who was driven almost to insanity by fear of assassination 
at the hands of the seditious secret societies which then 
began to spring up all over Russia. At the end of his 
twenty-four years his son Nicholas became Tsar for thirty 
years; a pronounced reactionary, who defeated and 
despoiled Persia and Turkey, who crushed the Poles and 
Hungarians, and who died of a broken heart in the Crimean 
War. His son, Alexander II, was as liberal and progres- 
sive as he had been reactionary, and gained fame as the 
liberator of the serfs; but perished after twenty-six years 
as the victim of a Nihilist bomb thrower. His son, 
Alexander III, peace-loving and domestic, reigned for 
fourteen years in terror and darkness, for fear of sharing 
his father's fate, and was thus driven to an untimely grave. 

THE LAST OF THE CZARS 

His son and successor, Nicholas II, reigned more than 
twenty-two years and completed three hundred years of 

105 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

the Romanoff Dynasty. In his titles he epitomized the 
history and geography of the Russian Empire. He was 
officially styled the Emperor and Autocrat of All the 
Russias, of Moscow, of Kieff, of Vladimir, of Novgorod; 
Czar of Kazin, of Astrakhan, of Poland, of Siberia, of 
Kherson-Taurida, of Grousi; Gousadar of Pskoff; Grand 
Duke of Smolensk, of Lithuania, of Volhynia, of Podolia, 
and of Finland; Prince of Esthonia, of Livonia, of Cour- 
land, of Semigalia, of the Samoyedes, of Bielostok, of 
Corelia, of Foer, of Ingor, of Perm, of Viatka, of Bulgaria 
and of other countries; Master and Grand Duke of the 
Lower Countries of Novgorod, of Tchernigoff, of Riazan, 
of Polotsk, of Rostoff, of Jaroslaff, of Bielosersk, of Ondork, 
of Obdorsk, of Kondisk, of Vitelsk, of Metilaff, and of 
all the countries of the North; Master Absolute of Iversk, 
of Kastalnisk, of Kabardinsk; and of the territory of 
Armenia; Sovereign of the Mountain Princes of Tscherkask; 
Master of Turkestan; Heir Presumptive of Norway and 
Duke of Schleswick-Holstein, of Stomarne, of Dithmarse, 
and of Oldenburg. 

A GERMAN DYNASTY 

It must be observed that under a strict interpretation 
of the usual rule of dynastic descent, the Romanoff line 
would be held to have terminated with the death of the 
Empress Elizabeth in 176L For her successor, Peter III, 
was the son of Elizabeth's sister Anna, whose husband 
was the Duke of Holsteiti-Gottorp. As a sovereign is 
attributed to the house of his father and not of his mother, 
therefore, Peter III was not a Romanoff but a Holstein- 
Gottorp, and was the first Tsar of a new dynasty, to which 
all Russian sovereigns since belonged. The Russian 
court insisted, however, that the greater family must 
106 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

have precedence over the less. Accordingly, when .\j.' .. 
Romanoff, daughter of Peter the Great, married Charles 
Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp, the offspring of that union 
was held to be more Romanoff than Holstein-Gottorp. 
The Holstein-Gottorp alliance, however, was not ignored, 
and Peter HI and all subsequent sovereigns were credited 
to the ''House of Romanoff-Holstein." 

There was thus a certain fitness in the circumstance 
that this German dynasty which long had tyrannized 
over Russia should come to an end in a war with Germany, 
and as one of the results of that war. 

NIHILISM AND BIGOTRY 

The end of Czarism was precipitated partly by Nihilism 
and its crimes of violence, which maintained a reign of 
terror throughout the Empire while Alexander IH was 
on the throne, and partly by the bigotry of the Procurator 
of the Holy Synod, who during that period was the power 
behind the throne. This fanatical ecclesiastic persuaded 
the Czar that the murder of his father and the other woes 
of Russia had been judgments of heaven, as punishment 
for laxity of faith and for too great tolerance of Jews and 
Dissenters. Accordingly a vast campaign of persecution 
was maintained, with repeated "pogroms" or massacres 
of Jews, and these things were continued in the reign of 
Nicholas H. 

These things, added to the great losses of the war with 
Japan, led to widespread disaffection among the Russian 
people, and the organization of a revolutionary move- 
ment. In January, 1905, occurred "Red Sunday." A 
great multitude of workingmen, led by a priest, approached 
the Winter Palace for the purpose of presenting a petition 
to the Czar for an increase of civil rights. They were 

107 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

entirely peaceful in their demeanor, and offered no violence 
' Udtever. But the troops fired upon them, and hundreds 
were slain. 

CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT 

There followed general disorder throughout the Empire, 
until in October, 1905, the Czar proclaimed a constitution 
and the establishment of a Duma, or national Parliament. 
The latter body met for the first time in April, 1906. It 
was dissolved on July 8th, having done little or nothing. 
A second Duma met in March, 1907, and had a stormy 
and ineffective career. The third met in December, 1907, 
and became a really authoritative and efficient legislative 
body. Thereafter there was a persistent fight for exten- 
sion of parliamentary and popular power, and restriction 
of the autocratic powers of the Czar. In this struggle 
the democracy made slow but steady gains, and Russia 
was moving toward a genuine constitutional system. 

The outbreak of the great war found government and 
people apparently united for a vigorous and unrelenting 
prosecution of the campaign. It was at the beginning 
of September, 1914, that the Czar by personal decree 
changed the name of the capital to Petrograd, and that 
moment marked the zenith of his reign. Soon there began 
to be perceptible indications of German influence. This 
was not sufficient to cause Russia's withdrawal from the 
war. But it did seriously hamper and at times defeat 
the operations of the armies. German spies continually 
betrayed Russian military plans to the enemy; and those 
spies were members of the court circle, if not of the imperial 
family. Worse than that, supplies of arms and ammuni- 
tion were withheld from the Russian army, thus dooming 
it to defeat. The great disasters in Poland were probably 
108 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 

chiefly attributable to this cause. The Russian army 
was without supphes, although there were abundant supplies 
in the hands of the government. 

THE END OF THE CZARS 

This treason was fatal to the dynasty, which was not 
unreasonably held responsible for it. The people were 
incensed, and, of course, the army was too. In consequence 
the army, instead of supporting the throne against the 
people, as thitherto, became itself the leader in revolu- 
tionary aspirations, and manifested a readiness to join 
with the people in overthrowing a dynasty which was the 
tool of alien foes. In March, 1917, came the end. There 
was a wholesale uprising of the people against the Czar. 
Some violence and loss of life occurred, but the troops in 
general mutinied and fraternized with the people. The 
Czar and his family were taken as prisoners of state, and 
the abdication of Nicholas II in behalf of his brother was 
exacted. After brief consideration, that brother declined 
to accept the crown unless he should be elected Czar by 
the free votes of the Russian people. 

A few days later the leaders of the Duma, who were in 
control of the government, decided not to retain the 
monarchy, but to organize a republican form of govern- 
ment, and to remove from oflSce all members of the Roman- 
off or Holstein-Gottorp family, even including the Grand 
Duke Nicholas who had been so efficient and loyal a leader 
of the Russian army. Czarism had partially betrayed 
Russia, and Russia was done with Czarism and with all 
in any way connected with it. The Russian Empire was 
ended; the Russian Republic was begun. 



Chapter VI 
THE ALLIED POWERS 

France and Her Vital Interests in the War — Germany's Former Attempts 
to Destroy Her and then to \^'oo Her as an Ally -- The Russian Alliance — The 
J'ntenie Cordiale between France and Great Britain — Practically a Triple Entente 
— Belgium as a Neutral State — Animosity between Great Britain and Germany — 
^\ hy Great Britain was Compelled to Enter the War — Japan Drawn into AlUance 
with Her Former Foe — Italy's Anomalous Position in the Triple AUiance — Her 
Keason for Withdrawing from It and for Entering the War against Her Former 
.^ -lies — Portugal an Old Ally of Great Britain. 

THERE ARE no such things as traditional friends or tra- 
ditional foes among the nations of the world. That fact 
is writ clear and large in the alignment of the powders in 
the great war. There are among the important European 
belligerents scarcely two enemies which were not formerly 
allies, and scarcely two allies which were not formerly foes. 
Observe : 

Great Britain and Germany, or in the last analysis Eng- 
land and Prussia, are the bitterest of all foes. Yet never 
before were they at war with each other, but in the last 
preceding general European war, which ended at Waterloo, 
they w^ere allies. Russia and Germany are foes; yet never 
before did the}^ fight each other, but more than once were 
allies. Italy is at w^ar with Germany, but it is for the first 
time, and Prussia was practically Italy's ally in 1866 and 
1870. 

Great Britain and France are allies; yet they have 
hitherto fought each other more than any other two pow- 
ers of Europe. They are both allies of Russia, yet they 
both fought Russia in the Crimea. Russia and Japan are 
110 



THE ALLIED POWERS 



allies; yet only a few years ago they were foes in a mighty 
war. Germany and Austria are allies; but they were foes 
in 1866. 

Germany's drive at France 
Of all the warring powers, France had at the beginning 
perhaps the most vital interest in the war. It was to her 
a matter of life or death. The ancient quarrel, dating 
from the time of Charlemagne's sons, between her and 
Germany, was revived in 1870 by Germany on the strength 
of a falsified dispatch, deliberately falsified by Otto von 
Bismarck in order to drag France into war. As a result 
of that war France was robbed of two provinces and of a 
cash indemnity so vast that it was supposed she would 
be unable to pay it, or that in paying it she would be hope- 
lessly impoverished and ruined. To the chagrin of Ger- 
many, she paid it promptly and regained more than her 
old prosperity; whereupon a few years later Germany 
sought to force another war upon her with the confessed 
intention of '' bleeding her white." The diplomatic inter- 
vention of Great Britain balked this scheme of Germany's, 
and thus planted the seeds of that hatred of Great Britain 
which Germany has ever since cherished. Then Germany 
devoted herself to the incitement of enmity between France 
and Great Britain and also to efforts to induce France to 
join her in war against the '' modern Carthage," as Ger- 
man statesmen called the United Kingdom. 

France spurned these German overtures, and instead 
entered at first into an entente and then into a complete 
alliance with Russia. Under the diplomatic influence of 
Edward VII of England the irritation and estrangement 
which had for some time existed between France and 
Great Britain, largely through German marplotry, were 

111 



THE ALLIED POWERS 



allayed and an entente cordiale was established, which 
under George V became practically an alliance. And at 
the same time France was the means of bringing Russia 
and Great Britain into friendly relations and into something 
like an entente. All this intensified the wrath of Germany 
against France, and the result was that when the German 
Emperor decided to begin his long cherished war for the 
conquest of the world he aimed his first blow at France. 
Knowing that she was unprepared, he hoped to crush her 
completely before any other powers could come to her aid. 
Having done that, he could turn his triumphant armies 
against the next foe that appeared. 

NEUTRAL BELGIUM 

The chief blow at France was struck through Belgium, 
and it was thus that Belgium was brought into the war. 
The direct frontier between Geraiany and France was so 
strongly fortified by the French that a rapid invasion in 
that quarter was impossible. But the invasion to be suc- 
cessful must be rapid, so rapid as to assure the capture of 
Paris before the French army could be put on a war foot- 
ing or British or Russian armies be brought into the field. 
The French frontier abutting upon Belgium was unforti- 
fied, and invasion there would be easy, if only Belgium 
would give passage to the German army. 

This, of course, Belgium refused to do. The German 
Government strove to get Belgian consent, at first with 
bribes and blandishments and later with menaces. But 
Belgium was inflexible in her refusal; for a reason which 
the German imperial and official mind seemed unable to 
understand. That was, good faith and honor. Belgium 
was a neutral state. Her neutrality and the inviolability 
of her territory had been guaranteed by the powers, Ger- 
112 




\tl/it 




J 




Copyrtyht Sun Printing and Publishing Ass'n. 

A Pistol Duel in the Air 
A German Taube monoplane having located the British forces and made a sketch 
ol their position, was suddenly attacked from above by a British Bristol biplane and a 
i-rench Bieriot monoplane. In this way many pilots were shot in the air and their 
machines brought to the ground. 



THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 

apparent, Rudolph, and his mistress, at Meyerhng, and 
the butchery of King Alexander and Queen Draga of 
Serbia at Belgrade. Neither of these has ever been 
explained, while each was invested with circumstances 
which seem to suggest some relationship with the crime 
at Sarajevo. 

HOW DID THE ARCHDUKE DIE? 

The Austrian Government insisted that the murder of 
Francis Ferdinand was the result of a criminal conspiracy 
formed by Serbs and promoted and directed from Serbia, 
perhaps by the Serbian Government itself. In support 
of this theory it pointed to the fact that there had been 
anti-Austrian agitations in Serbia ever since the Austrian 
rape of the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The 
Serbian Government denied that such was the case. The 
best informed Serbs in private did not hesitate to ascribe 
the crime to entirely different sources. They pointed 
out that the murdered Archduke had been beloved by the 
Serbs, because he had married a Slav and was believed 
to regard their national aspirations with favor; while 
he was hated by the Germans of Austria, even by the 
old Emperor Francis Joseph himself. There was thus 
no reason why the Serbs should wish to get rid of him, 
while there were reasons why his removal would be wel- 
come to the Germans, particularly if the responsibility 
for it could be made to seem to rest upon the Serbs. 

The Serbs therefore insisted that the crime was planned 
and directed by Austrians, probably by members of the 
Austrian court. Some thought that it was not intended 
to kill him, but merely to wound him, and thus provide 
a pretext for a quarrel with and conquest of Serbia. Others, 
the majority, however, held that it was meant to kill 

9 129 



THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 

both him and his wife, and that the German Government 
at BerUn was privy to the crime. In support of these 
astounding theories the Serbs were able to point to several 
well-established facts, showing the devious ways of 
Austrian ''provocative agents." 

FORMER AUSTRIAN PLOTS 

Some weeks before the tragedy at Sarajevo the ''Reichs- 
post^' of Vienna, a sort of court organ, printed several 
articles which hinted that something serious was likely 
to happen soon in Bosnia. In the same paper a year 
before there had been similar hints at coming events 
in Croatia. The sequels to those former hints were the 
alleged discovery of bombs intended for criminal purposes, 
and a series of trials at Agram for treason felony. But 
it was afterward revealed that the bombs which were 
there used or "found," and which served as the basis of 
prosecutions for treason felony, had been in fact manu- 
factured for the purpose in one of the government arsenals. 
They were carried by a government agent from Austria 
into Montenegro, thence to be transferred to Croatia. 
At an appointed place and time this agent passed the 
bag containing them to another person, who was to be the 
scapegoat, and the latter was presently arrested with the 
bombs in his possession. Of course, he was surreptitiously 
set at liberty, while a number of innocent persons were 
accused of complicity in the plot. 

THE BELGRADE BUTCHERY 

It has come to be pretty well known, too, that the 
butchery of the Serbian sovereigns, Alexander and Draga, 
at Belgrade, was incited and directed by Austria. The 
affair was not intended to be a tragedy at all, but merely 
130 



THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 

a kidnapping and compulsory abdication, such as had 
been successfully forced upon Alexander of Bulgaria many 
years before. But in attempting to execute that design, 
passions rose higher than had been expected and got quite 
out of hand, and the gruesome butchery was the result. 
So it was meant that the Archduke at Sarajevo should 
merely be made to appear to have been in deadly peril. 
That would throw suspicion upon Serbia and rouse Austrian 
anger against her, and provoke a breach between the crown 
prince and the Serbs, with whom he was growing too 
friendly to please the Hapsburg ''Ring." 

THE archduke's POLITICS 

It is also to be taken into account that the Archduke, 
despite his former anti-Magyar proclivities, which had 
won for him the hatred of the ruling caste in Hungary, 
had entered into sympathetic relations with the so-called 
Hungarian Independence party; precisely, it is sugges- 
tively recalled, as Archduke Rudolph did just before the 
mysterious tragedy at Meyerling. By his attitude at 
that time toward the Hungarians, Rudolph incurred the 
bitter animosity and resentment of the Hapsburg ''Ring," 
and the unexplained tragedy which overcame him has 
by many been regarded as having had a political origin. 

The fact is that Francis Ferdinand, having recovered 
from the madness of the days in which he was a follower 
of the notorious Jew-baiting Dr. Lueger in his "Christian 
Socialist Anti-Semite Party," and his almost equally 
venomous anti-Magyar propaganda, had adopted the 
momentous design of recasting the Dual Realm and of 
transforming it into a Federal Empire on a basis resembling 
that of Germany. He meant that when he became Emperor 
there should be a number of sovereign states. Austria 

131 



THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 



should have the hegemony of them, as Prussia does in 
Germany. But there should be several other ostensible 
independent and equal states, such as Hungary, Bohemia, 
Croatia, and perhaps Moravia and Transylvania. 

This design was intensely offensive to the old Emperor 
and the entire Austrian court, and also to the ruling castes 
in Austria and Hungary. It was equally offensive to the 
German Emperor at Berlin, who was cherishing the design, 
after the death of Francis Joseph, of subordinating Austria- 
Hungary more than ever to German domination. 

On the other hand the Serbs, both in the empire and 
in Serbia itself, looked upon his plans as on the whole 
favorable to them. The creation of a strong Serb state 
of the empire, comprising Croatia, Slavonia, Bosnia and 
Herzegovina, would be for the immediate advantage 
of its inhabitants and would greatly strengthen their 
hands for the ultimate revolt against Austrian domination 
and the recreation of the great Serbian Empire. It was 
also welcome to them because of the dissension which it 
would create between Francis Ferdinand and the rest 
of the Hapsburgs. 

CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CRIME 

So much for motives and lack of motives for the crime 
of Sarajevo. Certain indisputable circumstances were 
strangely suggestive. One was the course which was 
taken by the driver of the car in which the Archduke and 
his wife were riding. Instead of proceeding along the 
chief street of the city, w^hich was simply Hned from end 
to end with pohce, he suddenly, and without orders, turned 
the car into another narrower and comparatively obscure 
street, running parallel with the main street, on which 
there were few if any police. 
132 



THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 

It was on this side street that the tragedy occurred. 
Why that course was taken is a question which has not 
been and probably never will be satisfactorily answered, 
but which inevitably provokes grave speculations and 
suspicions. Nor has it been explained why, just before 
the murderous attack was made, the driver, without orders, 
slowed down the car, as if to facilitate the assault. It 
is said, it is true, that this change in the route was made 
because of the bomb-throwing in the main street shortly 
before. But that convinces nobody. The very fact that 
the bomb-throwing did occur on the main street, and that 
in consequence all the police of the city had been massed 
there, is regarded as the very best reason why the second 
trip should have been made along the same thoroughfare. 

It is also pointed out that the murders were committed 
by a youth who knew something which down to that time 
had supposedly been known by nobody outside of the 
imperial household. That was that the Archduke wore 
a buUet-proof waistcoat, for which reason the assassin 
shot at his head instead of his breast. How did the 
assassin get that knowledge? 

HOW THE NEWS WAS RECEIVED 

The news of the tragedy was instantly transmitted to 
Vienna, and it was an extraordinary circumstance that 
practically every important personage of the court, save 
only the Emperor, was there to hear it, though it was 
Sunday, and usually they all went out of town on Saturday 
in summer. No grief, but rather satisfaction, if not exul- 
tation, was expressed. The news was sent to the old 
Emperor at Ischl, and his only comment was, ''What 
impertinence of those Bosnians!" The pohce of Sarajevo 
were never reprimanded for not guarding the Archduke 

133 



THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 

better, but, on the contrary, the heads of the force were 
promoted. 

The coffins containing the bodies of the Archduke and 
his wife were brought to Trieste by sea, handled as so much 
freight. When they were being unloaded from the steamer 
the sailors let one of them drop upon the quay, and let 
it lie there until they had got rested from carrying it. 
The funeral was conducted in third-class style, with not 
even sufficient candles for the chapel ardente. At Arstatten 
a violent storm drove the funeral party to shelter in a 
tavern, where most of the party got drunk. There were 
tales in Vienna of the coffins being placed on chairs and 
then tumbled off upon the floor. On the whole, the late 
heir to the throne was buried with less respect than would 
have been shown to some hired lackey of the court. All 
of which gives poignancy to the fearful speculation. Who 
murdered the Archduke? 

Austria's demands upon Serbia 
Following the tragedy at Sarajevo diplomatic commu- 
nications were conducted between the Austro-Hungarian 
and Serbian governments, the latter earnestly striving to 
ameliorate the situation and to reach an amicable settlement, 
but the former almost undisguisedly seeking to force an open 
quarrel. At the same time intercourse between Vienna and 
Berlin was such as to indicate that the policy of the Aus- 
trian Government was being dictated by the German. 

Finally, at six o'clock on the evening of July 23d, Austria 
presented an ultimatum to Serbia, an answer to which 
was required within forty-eight hours, or before six o'clock 
on the evening of July 25th. This contained eleven cate- 
gorical demands, which with the Serbian replies may be 
summarized as follows: 
134 



THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 

Serbia's replies 

1. That the Serbian Government give formal assurance 
of its condemnation of Serb propaganda against Austria. 
To this Serbia unhesitatingly assented. 

2. That a declaration to this effect be published in the 
next Sunday's issue of the Serbian ''Official Journal." 
To this Serbia also assented. 

3. That this declaration express regret that Serbian 
officers had participated in the propaganda. To this 
Serbia assented, despite the fact that no proof of such 
participation was offered. 

4. That the Serbian Government promise to proceed 
rigorously against all guilty of such machinations. To 
this Serbia assented. 

5. That this declaration be at once communicated by 
the King of Serbia to his army and published in the 
official bulletin as an order of the day. To this Serbia 
assented. 

6. That all anti-Austrian publications in Serbia be sup- 
pressed. To this Serbia assented. 

7. That the Serbian political party known as the National 
Union be suppressed and its means of propaganda be 
confiscated. To this, too, Serbia assented. 

8. That all anti-Austrian teaching in Serbian schools 
be suppressed. To this Serbia assented. 

THREE EXTRAORDINARY DEMANDS 

9. That all officers, civil and military, who might be 
designated by Austria as guilty of anti-Austrian propaganda, 
be dismissed by the Serbian Government. Extraordinary 
as was this demand, for Austrian proscription of Serbian 
officials, so eager was the Serbian Government for peace 
and friendship that it assented to it; merely stipulating 

135 



THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 

that the Austrian Government should offer some proof of 
the guilt of the proscribed officers. 

10. That Austrian agents should be permitted to enter 
Serbia to co-operate with the Serbian Government in sup- 
pressing all anti-Austrian propaganda, and to take part 
in the judicial proceedings conducted in Serbia against 
those charged with complicity in the crime at Sarajevo. 
This astounding demand, which was in effect that Austrian 
agents should control the police and courts of Serbia, it 
was impossible for Serbia to accept without abrogating 
her sovereignty. She did not, however, unconditionally 
reject it, but asked that it be the subject of further dis- 
cussion, or be referred to arbitration. 

11. That Serbia explain to Austria the meaning of anti- 
Austrian utterances of Serbian officials at home and abroad, 
since the crime of Sarajevo. This was assented to, on 
condition that if the explanations given were not satis- 
factory, the matter be submitted to mediation or arbitration. 

GERMANY DICTATES REJECTION 

Thus Serbia granted ten of Austria's demands, and 
did not altogether reject the eleventh, although it was 
obvious that its acceptance would mean the end of Serbian 
liberty and independence. It is probable that the Austrian 
Government, left to itself, would have accepted the replies, or 
at any rate would have continued diplomatic negotiations. 
It must have done so, had it been sincere in its profession 
of desire merely to obtain reparation for the tragedy. 

But the German Emperor apparently deemed the moment 
fitting for the launching of a long contemplated war of 
conquest against the rest of Europe. His army, navy and 
entire empire were in a state of the most perfect readiness 
for instant action, while not one of his potential antagonists 
136 



THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 

was in even the usual condition of preparedness. And 
his will was scarcely less supreme at Vienna than at Berlin. 
Therefore the Austrian Government summarily rejected 
the Serbian replies as wholly unsatisfactory, and the 
Austrian minister quitted Belgrade. 

EFFORTS TO KEEP THE PEACE 

That was on the evening of July 25th. Instantly the 
news was flashed over the world, and various govern- 
ments interested themselves in efforts to prevent this 
breach of relations from leading to war. Russia intimated 
that she could not with indifference see Serbia oppressed. 
Great Britain urged that Germany, France, Italy and 
Great Britain hold a conference for mediation or arbitra- 
tion. This was exactly in accord with the policy to which 
all the powers had pledged themselves in the treaty of 
The Hague. It was an eminently fair proposal, since it 
excluded Russia and Austria-Hungary, as prejudiced parties, 
and included only four powers which might reasonably 
be supposed to be impartial. If they had any predilec- 
tions, Germany and Italy were Austria's partners in the 
Triple Alliance, while Great Britain and France were 
Russia's friends in the Triple Entente. The proposal 
was promptly accepted by France and Italy, but was 
summarily rejected by Germany. 

That was on July 27th. The next daj^ Austria-Hungary 
declared war against Serbia. Russia declared that, on 
the day on which Austrian troops invaded Serbia, there 
would be a mobilization of Russian troops, in order to 
prepare for further contingencies. Thereupon Germany 
took the initiative and the aggressive. She proclaimed 
that she would not permit any interference by anybody 
between Austria and Serbia, but that Austria must be 

137 



THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 

left free to work her will, whatever it might be, upon 
her little neighbor. She ordered Russia to stop mobiUza- 
tion proceedings and to dismiss whatever troops had already 
been mobilized; and she demanded of France an immediate 
and categorical statement of what that country would do 
in case of a war between Germany and Russia. 

More arbitrary and insolent utterances were probably 
never made by any power. They were obviously intended 
to mean either universal European subjection to Prussian 
autocracy, or war. In fact they meant war. 

FALSEHOODS AND SCRAPS OF PAPER 

Germany declared war upon Russia on August 1st, 
because Russia would not refrain from mobilizing her 
army at Germany's demand. Austria meantime three 
days before had bombarded the Serbian capital. On 
August 2d German troops invaded Luxembourg and 
Belgium, thus regarding as ''scraps of paper" Germany's 
solemn treaty pledges to respect and to defend the 
inviolability of those neutral states. At the same time 
German troops violated the French frontier, without 
any declaration of war. 

The next day Germany declared that France had begun 
war against "her, by sending hostile aeroplanes across the 
frontier to bombard German towns and railroads. It 
has since been officially acknowledged in Germany that 
these charges against France had no foundation in fact; 
so that war was really declared by Germany against France 
on the basis of a German falsehood. 

Belgium's appeal answered 
The Belgian Government made appeal to Great Britain, 
as one of the guarantors of Belgian neutrality, for pro- 
138 



THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 

tection against the invading German army. The British 
Government therefore at once demanded of Germany 
withdrawal of the invaders and respect for the neutraUty 
of Belgium. The reply was a flat rejection of the demand 
and an attack by the German army upon the Belgian 
city of Liege. Thereupon, at eleven o'clock on the evening 
of August 4th, the British Government declared that a 
state of war with Germany existed. 

The United States Government, through the President, 
at once made the customary proclamation of neutrality, 
on the same conditions that had prevailed in other foreign 
wars to which this country was not a party; and other 
neutral nations generally did the same. Italy, though 
an ally of Germany and Austria in the Triple Alliance, 
also made a proclamation of neutrality, informing Germany 
as she did so that she considered that the circumstances 
of the declaration of an aggressive war by Germany and 
Austria released her from all obligations under her treaty 
with those powers. Thus the issues were joined, and the 
world's greatest war was begun. 



139 



Chapter IX 
THE WAR IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS 

Three Epochs of a Stupendous Campaign — The Invasion of Belgium — 
Briahnont's Work — Liege the Savior of Europe — Unspeakable Atrocities of 
the Gennans — Northern France Overrun — The Drive at Paris — Battles of the 
Marne and Aisne — Ypres and Loos — Beginning of Trench Warfare — The 
Second Epoch of the Campaign — The German Drive at Verdun — "They Shall 
Not Pass" — Beginning of the Third Epoch — The Campaign on the Somme River 
— Bapaume and Peronne the Impregnable — The Great British and French Drive 
from Switzerland to the Sea — Breaking of the "Hindenberg Line" and Steady 
Retreat of the German Armies. 

THE WAR in western Europe, has seen three major stages, 
or epochs, in which three nations successively have held 
the center of the stage in opposition to the German inva- 
sion. The first was very short, measured in weeks, or 
perhaps only days; when the handful of Belgians were 
holding back the multitudinous German legions until 
France, taken all unawares, could rally her forces for the 
defense of Paris. The second lasted a year and a half, 
when France, putting forth efforts which would have 
seemed incredible had they been predicted in advance, 
held the Germans in check until a British army could be 
created out of raw material and be put into the field. 
The third, now prevailing, is marked by the tremendous 
and apparently irresistible aggressiveness of the British army 
in cooperation with its French allies. Let us very briefly 
review these three epochs; briefly, because this is not a 
complete and detailed history of the war, but merely such 
an account of it as wiU make clear the chief happenings 
before the United States was dragged into the fray. 
140 



WAR IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS 

LIEGE THE IMMORTAL 

August 3, 1914. Like the Egyptian plague of locusts, 
devouring the land, the German armies rushed forward 
to devour France. They were four in number. One 
struck through central Belgium, the second through 
Luxembourg, the third between Metz and Nancy, and 
the fourth between the Vosges and the Swiss frontier. 
We have to do with the first named, by far the most 
formidable of all. Admitting that invasion of Belgium 
would be gross violation of law and treatment of a 
neutrality treaty as a ''scrap of paper," the German 
Government had tried to seduce Belgium into consenting 
to the deed. Since Belgium would not be seduced, 
but held out for faith and honor, Germany went 
in with force. The frontier was crossed on August 
3d, [and on the next day the invaders reached and 
began to attack the first of the Belgian fortified cities, 
Liege. 

Brialmont, the great mihtary engineer, had made it 
as he supposed impregnable. But that was before the 
days of the 42-centimeter guns. These stupendous engines 
soon pounded Brialmont's steel and masonry forts into 
ruin. But it took them three days to do it. Indeed, 
the last of the Liege forts was not reduced until August 
18th. And by causing that delay to the German advance, 
Liege was the savior of Europe. Had it not been for 
that delay, and the time it gave France to mobilize her 
troops, Paris surely would have fallen. On August 20th 
Brussels was occupied without resistance. On the fol- 
lowing three days the first great battle was fought at 
Namur, Mons and Charleroi, as a result of which the 
Belgians, French and British were driven back and the 
German rush toward Paris began. 

141 



WAR IN FRANCE AND" FLANDERS 

THE MARTYRDOM OF BELGIUM 

Meantime the Germans instituted such a reign of 
atrocities in Belgium as the world had not known since 
the days of Tilly and Pappenheim, or perhaps of Timur 
Leng and Genghis Khan. This campaign of '^f rightful- 
ness" was ordered from Berlin, partly in the hope of 
terrifying the nations into submission, and partly in vin- 
dictive spite against Belgium for having dared to resist 
the will of the Kaiser. Almost every principle of inter- 
national law was violated. Unfortified and undefended 
cities and towns were sacked and burned. Unoffending 
civilians were murdered by hundreds, and by other 
hundreds were put to death wholesale by the military 
authorities on various lying pretences. Vast tributes 
were exacted from municipalities, under threat of destruc- 
tion of the towns and massacre of the inhabitants. Private 
houses and shops were looted. The university library 
of Louvain, one of the most precious in the world, was 
wantonly burned. Churches were looted and their altars 
used as latrines Men, women and children were tor- 
tured to ;. death, by crucifixion, by burning alive, and by 
hideous mutilations. Women, from girls scarcely in their 
teens to venerable granddames, were ravished by hundreds, 
generally in public where their children, parents or hus- 
bands were compelled to witness the infamy; many of 
them being thus abused by many soldiers until they died 
under the torture. Living or dead, they were often 
obscenely mutilated, and then their mangled bodies were 
''pegged out" upon the ground with bayonets or stakes 
driven through them. Babes were snatched from their 
mothers' arms and tossed about on bayonet points. Whole 
families, after indescribable ill treatment, were fastened 
in their houses and the houses burned. All through 
142 



WAR IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS 

Belgium and northern France, wherever the German 
armies went, there was such an orgy of lust, loot and 
murder as the civilized world had not seen for centuries. 



SALVATION OF THE MARNE 

Meanwhile, reinforced by armies which had pushed 
through Luxembourg, the Germans swept on toward 



-~>i— CXTRCME 

GERMAN LINE, 

SEPT. 6^f 




Position of the Western Armies on October 1, 1914 

Paris. By September 3d the French and their allies had 
been driven to the line of the Seine, Marne and Verdun, 
and the French Government fled from Paris to Bordeaux. 
But the French army, with a small British contingent, 
halted there to give battle. ^'We stop the Germans here," 

143 



WAR IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS 

said the French commander, ''or here we all die." For 
three daj^s the contest, one of the world's decisive battles, 
raged; the allied lines held firm; by September 9th the 
entire German army was in retreat; and Paris was saved. 
The allies followed the retreating foe as far as the River 
Aisne, where the Germans turned and gave battle. In 
magnitude the battle was greater than that at the Marne 
had been, but its results were less decisive. The Germans 
held their ground, and established themselves in the systems 
of trenches which were thereafter so striking a feature of 
the war on the western front. By the middle of September 
the Germans were thus established along a line from near 
Verdun to Bapaume which, with minor changes, they 
continued to hold for two years. 

THE WAR IN FLANDERS 

From Bapaume northward desperate struggles con- 
tinued for some time. The Belgians and British, who 
chiefly represented the allies there, at first hoped to hold 
a line running from Bapaume through Lille, Ghent and 
Antwerp. But from October 9th to 12th the three places 
last named were taken by the Belgians. There was 
desperate fighting at Ypres and at Loos, in which two- 
thirds of the British army was destroyed or disabled, 
but the surviving remnant stubbornly held on. The 
little Belgian army also inflicted heavy losses upon the 
Germans on the Yser, and with the aid of floods caused 
by cutting the dikes prevented further advance of the 
invaders. The year ended with the Germans in possession 
of all of Belgium save a small triangle at the extreme 
southwest corner of the kingdom. 

On the lines thus established, the armies remained for 
two years, waiting for the British Government to recruit, 
144 



WAR IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS 

train and equip an army of several millions. And just 
as the Belgians held the Germans in check for a few days 
until the French could get ready to fight for Paris on the 
Marne, so during all this longer time it fell chiefly to the 
French to hold the Germans back until the British could 
come to their aid. Meantime the Germans did all the 
damage they could to the parts of France which they 
were occupying, taking especial pleasure in mutilating 
or destroying priceless works of art and historic buildings. 
Thus they nearly destroyed and hopelessly damaged the 
cathedral of Rheims, one of the noblest churches and most 
interesting historic landmarks in the world. 

THE SECOND STAGE 

There followed more than a year and a half of trench 
fighting, with few important gains for either side and no 
decision of the whole campaign. The Germans were 
paying chief attention to the war against Russia on the 
eastern front, and the French were simply holding their 
own until the millions of soldiers in the British training 
camps could be prepared to take the field, and until artillery 
and munitions superior to that of the Germans could be 
provided. There was a fierce renewal of the German drive 
toward Calais, in April, 1915, which was repulsed by the 
allies. 

In September of that year the allies launched a general 
drive against the German Hues along nearly the whole 
front. In Picardy and Artois the British fought a series 
of bloody battles, aiming toward Lille and centering around 
Loos, while the French in Champagne won some consider- 
able successes. Following these operations, an attempt 
was made at both points to break through the German 
line. But by this time hundreds of thousands of German 

10 145 



WAR IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS 

troops had been hurried across from Poland, and the 
allies were not only repulsed but were also once more 
placed upon the defensive. 

^^THEY SHALL NOT PASS" 

The third stage of the western war began in the last 
week of February, 1916, and for four months was marked 
with a persistent ferocity never before witnessed in this 
or any war. It began with a German attack upon the 
French fortress town of Verdun. The German Crown 
Prince was in command, and at his disposal were hundreds 
of thousands of the very flower of the German army. His 
orders from his father were, that he must capture Verdun, at 
any cost. Upon that achievement depended his promotion 
to the rank of Field Marshal, which he coveted and which 
the Emperor felt it a reproach for him not to have. 

The first German attacks were successful, and at the 
northeast the French were driven back upon the city. 
Then the attack shifted to the northwest, around Dead 
Man's HiU, and for more than three months raged with a 
ferocity never before known. Foot by foot the French 
were driven back, taking three lives for every life they gave. 
Two forts close to Verdun were captured by the Germans, 
Douaumont on May 24th and Vaux on June 6th. But that 
was their high-water mark. From the beginning the French 
commander had grimly declared, "They shall not pass!" They 
did not pass. Worn with their furious onset the Germans 
halted, weakened, and faltered. The French raUied and 
assumed the aggressive. The drive at Verdun had failed. 

THE THIRD STAGE 

June, 1916, marked the turning of the tide of war on the 
western battle front. At the beginning of July came a 
146 



WAR IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS 

general forward movement of the allies in the valley of 
the Somme. All through July and August the Germans 
were inch by inch driven back toward Bapaume and 
Peronne, on a frontage of fifteen miles. In September 
the fighting grew still more bitter, and a new element was 
introduced, the British 'Hanks" or armored automobiles, 
which created great consternation among the enemy. 

In mid-November the severity of the weather compelled 
a slackening of the campaign. But in January the British 
gained further advantages, while the German Crown 
Prince made another attack upon Verdun. In March 
the allies began a '^ spring drive," and soon forced the 
Germans out of Bapaume and Peronne. This advance 
continued with steadily increasing force. The progress 
of the allies was measured by miles rather than, as before, 
by yards. The Germans feU back with fearful losses 
to the so-called Hindenburg line of fortifications. That 
line was quickly broken through by the allies, and they 
feU back to the Siegfried line. But by mid- April that too 
was broken, and the Germans, retreating and becoming 
demoralized, were compelled more and more to fight in 
the open instead of in trenches, and thus were placed 
at what seemed a hopeless disadvantage. 

In their retreat, however, the Germans showed them- 
selves if possible more ruthless and savage than they had 
been during their advance. They laid the country waste 
behind them to an almost incredible degree. Not only 
were aU fortifications, bridges and public works destroyed, 
but aU private buildings shared the same fate. Churches 
were first defiled and then wrecked. Venerable historic 
monuments, of no value for military or other practical 
purposes but priceless for their sentimental associations 
or their artistic beauty, were wantonly demohshed. Even 

147 



WAR IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS 

the tombs of the dead were violated, the monuments above 
them were overthrown and the coffins were dug up and 
rifled for the lead or copper linings which many contained. 

THE ITALIAN FRONTIER 

Immediately after declaring war against Austria, on 
May 23, 1915, Italy sent two armies against her foe. One 
invaded the Trentino and advanced toward Trent. A 
counter invasion of Italy in that region was made by 
Austria, but was repelled. The second and larger Italian 
army proceeded toward Trieste, by way of the Isonzo 
River and Gorizia. Much fighting was done, including some 
extraordinary operations on the slopes and summits of lofty 
Alpine peaks and ridges, but comparatively little was 
achieved in the way of conquest. Gorizia was captured by 
the Italians on August 8, 1916, but no further progress was 
made toward Trieste, save in an occasional aeroplane raid, 
which was returned by the Austrians with attempts to drop 
bombs upon the historic palaces of Venice. 



118 



Chapter X 
THE WAR IN THE EAST 

Serbia's Successful Defense — Russia's Invasion of East Prussia — The 
Disaster of the Masurian Lakes — Secrets of Russia's Weakness — The Conquest 
of Galicia — Tremendous Counterstrokes by Hindenburg and Von Mackensen — 
Przemysl and Lemberg — The German Invasion of Poland and the Baltic Provinces 
— Riga and Petrograd Threatened — The War in the Balkans — Conquest of 
Serbia — The Dardanelles and the GallipoU Campaign — Greece and Salonika — 
The Struggle at the Head of the Red Sea — Armenia and Mesopotamia. 

THE FIRST shots of the war were fired on the eastern 
frontier when Austrian artillery bombarded the Serbian 
capital, Belgrade, from across the Danube. This action 
was not important, and was soon followed by a far more 
successful counter attack by Serbians and Montenegrins 
upon Austria. An Austrian regiment which attempted 
to cross the Danube east of Belgrade was annihilated. 
On August 12th the Serbs and Montenegrins crossed the 
border into Bosnia and swept irresistibly toward Sarajevo. 
Heavy fighting occurred at Shabatz and on the Save 
River, in which the Serbs were on the whole successful. 
The Austrian invasion of Serbia was foiled, and the Serbian 
invasion of Bosnia was maintained. 

Meantime a far greater campaign was undertaken at 
the other side of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The 
Russian army was mobilized in three grand divisions. 
The center was in Russian Poland. The left wing, under 
the Grand Duke Nicholas, one of Russia's greatest generals, 
began on August 11th an invasion of Galicia, or Austrian 
Poland; while the right wing a week later crossed the 
border into East Prussia. 

149 



THE WAR IN THE EAST 



THE GALICIAN DRIVE 

The Russian left wing was at first highly successful. 
After seven days of incessant fighting it completely over- 



HUNGARY t^xy 
I 



% 



R U S 



* C*" — ' 



SUJCAREST. 






mm 



ills 






wm 



m 






^^ 






\3cumBJ 






fC E Y 





^9^ 



-5 










\ 



Scene of War in the Near East 



150 



THE WAR IN THE EAST 

whelmed the Austrians on September 2d, and the next 
day occupied the important city of Lemberg. The next 
day HaHcz was taken; on September 9th the Austrians 
were vanquished in a hard battle at Rawaruska; on 
September 22d Jaroslav was captured, and five days later 
Russian troops were in the Carpathian mountain passes, 
and crossing the Hungarian frontier. The great fortress 
of Przemysl, the last Austrian stronghold left in GaHcia, 
was invested and besieged all that fall and winter, but 
was not captured by the Russians until March 22d. Its 
fall cleared the way for a Russian advance into Hungary, 
or would have done so had not something happened 
elsewhere to bring the Russian plans to naught. 

IN EAST PRUSSIA 

The Russian advance at the right was at first equally 
successful. East Prussia was invaded, and on August 26th 
Insterburg and on August 27th Tilsit were captured. 
An important victory was won at Gumbinncn, and the 
main Prussian army was apparently shut up in Konigsberg. 
A detachment of the Russian army moved forward into 
the region of the Masurian Lakes, to clear the way for an 
advance on the lower Vistula. 

That gloomy and forbidding region was, however, 
destined to be the scene of disaster for the Russians. 
Germany's greatest General, Hindenburg, known as the 
^'Old Man of the Masurian Lakes," advanced to the 
attack upon them, with a superior force and with infinitely 
superior knowledge of the '4ay of the land." The Russians 
were trapped among the lakes and almost interminable 
marshes, in places where it was impossible for suppHes 
of munitions to reach them. For three days a tremendous 
conflict raged at Tannenburg and Aliens tein, which resulted 

151 



THE WAR IN THE EAST 



CULf OF 



D/fNZ/G- 



i<0N/G5BERG 



QUMBlNNEN^ 



o 



\posm 



emuJio, 



, WiRBPtLLEN 



\QSUV/fU.K/ 



NElOENdUR& 



l^NO 



/ 



-sPUXH 



pOS50V!/fr2 



oPPlf^f^^^ 



\GOMB/N 

^socmczEi 



^ 



J3LESCHE. 
P 
MUSZ 



OSIW\ 



C3 



\RB5LfUJ 



\mU5Z ^ / LODZ 

I / PETPOkOV^ 



myOGKiRQtFSh 

"UNPOLZKJ 






'icfr \ ft ^ 

*- ^ERNIBVICE 

^f/fSZOW 
\P0CIN0 fl^f^^^^ 



''"%^"\ 



JY/INGOMO 



i-ueun 

OKRfiSNIK 
•ifiNNOPOU 



^lEOO^ 










*\^ 



'5J<0o ^A 



The Russq-German Theater of War 



153 



THE WAR IN THE EAST 

in the complete defeat of the Russian troops, with enormous 
losses. A retreat back into Russia followed, after which 
the initiative remained with the Germans, who presently 
began an invasion of Russia from Posen. 

POLAND INVADED 

Meantime the Germans and Austrians sought a diver- 
sion of the war at the two wings by means of a vigorous 
attack in the center. Hindenburg moved against Warsaw 
from the northwest, while an Austrian army moved toward 
the same city from the southwest. The Russian resistance 
was feeble, and by mid-October the Germans were within 
a short distance of Warsaw. This emergency compelled 
the Russians to withdraw troops from the Galician cam- 
paign to protect their center; which they did effectively. 
Within a week the Germans began to be driven back 
and before the end of the month they were cleared out of 
Poland. The Russians followed up their advantage, 
crossing the frontier into Posen on November 8th, and 
a week later resuming the Galician drive and advancing 
to within twenty miles of Cracow. 

Then the see-saw was repeated. Hindenburg struck 
furiously at Poland again, and again penetrated to the 
neighborhood of Warsaw. This compelled a withdrawal 
of Russians from Galicia and suspension of operations 
toward Cracow. The Germans were again driven back 
from Warsaw, and at the end of the year there was a renewal 
of the Russian aggressive all along the front. A third 
time, in February Hindenburg took the aggressive, this 
time at the Russian right, and succeeded in driving the 
Russians out of East Prussia. But the Russian center 
held firm, and at the left an important invasion of Hungary 
seemed imminent. 

153 



THE WAR IN THE EAST 

RUSSIAN DISASTERS 

Then the tide turned. The Russian army had exhausted 
its supplies of ammunition, and further suppUes were not 
forthcoming. There is reason to beheve that plenty of 
munitions were at hand, but were purposely withheld 
from the troops through the machinations of German 
intriguers in Russia. At any rate, the Russians were 
left without ammunition, to meet the onset of a furious 
German offensive. 

The German army under Von Mackensen set out from 
Cracow on April* 29, 1915, with an amplitude and com- 
pleteness of equipment as notable as was the R^ussian lack 
thereof. The advance was bewilderingly rapid. On 
May 6th Tarnow and Gorlice were taken, on June 3d the 
great fortress of Przemyslwas reoccupied, and Lemberg 
was entered on June 22d. For fifty-two days the Grermans 
advanced at the average rate of four miles a day. The 
reason was that they were moving against practically 
unarmed men. The Russian cannons were chiefly silent, 
and the men, with no cartridges, were fighting with clubbed 
rifles, knives and even with stones and bludgeons. 

THE CONQUEST OF POLAND 

Having swept the unarmed Russians out of Galicia, 
the Germans turned northward for the conquest of Russian 
Poland. Three powerful armies, from north, west and south, 
simultaneously converged upon Warsaw. Still destitute 
of proper supplies, the Russians could do nothing but 
retire, and it was a wonderful achievement that there, 
as in Gahcia, they were able to retire without being thrown 
into confusion and rout and without losing such equip- 
ment as they had. Never did a defeated army retire in 
better order. But it did retire. Kovno was abandoned 
154 



THE WAR IN THE EAST 



on August 17th, Brest-Litovsk on August 26th, and Grodno 
on September 3d. The German conquest of Poland was 
then practically complete. 

Meantime German armies at the extreme left were 
driving the Russian right before them, through Courland, 
until they were close to Riga and were planning to menace 
Petrograd itself. But from the fall of 1915 to the early 
summer of 1916 the Hues re- 






BoIdlAgeu' 



mained practically unchanged. 
The Germans were being kept 
busy on the western front, 
and the Russians were prepar- 
ing themselves for a renewal 
of their campaign under hap- 
pier auspices. 



ANOTHER RUSSIAN DRIVE 

Early in June, 1916, the 
Russian armies were ready for 
action. Under the command 
of General Brussiloff they 
struck, with their left, against 
the German and Austrian 
right, in Galicia and Buk- 
owina, with tremendous effect. The movement began on 
June 5th. Four days later Czernowitz was taken, and by 
the end of the month Kolomea was also captured. Stan- 
islau fell on August 9th, and a few days later Lemberg 
was threatened. Then, unfortunately, a diversion was 
caused by the German invasion of Roumania, and it was 
necessary to stop the Galician advance in order to send 
troops thither. 

During the rest of the fall and the winter of 1916-17, 

155 




Riga. 

CNOLISH MILES 
1 'fi *P V 



THE WAR IN THE EAST 

therefore, little change occurred on that part of the battle 
front. The tremendous drives of the allies at the west 
made it necessary for all German troops that could be 
spared from the east to be sent thither, while the domestic 
revolution in Russia caused a suspension for the time of 
Russian activities. 



THE WAR AT THE STRAITS 

Turkey entered the war at the end of October, 1914, 
but it was not until four months afterward that it became 

involved in serious op- 
erations. It was in 
the latter part of Feb- 
ruary, 1915, that the 
allies undertook the 
formidable task of cap- 
turing Constantinople. 
This movement had 
two major objects. 
One was, to gain con- 
trol of the Dardanelles 
and the Bosporus, so 
that supplies could be 
sent to Russia by that 
short and direct route 
instead of by way of 
the White Sea, which 
was obstructed with 
ice for much of the 
year and which landed supplies at a remote point from 
that at which they were needed, or by the still longer 
route across the Pacific Ocean. The other object was to 
cut the line of commAmication between Germany and 
156 




TBE B0SPH0RU8. 

Cr IJLI3H MILES 
12 8 4 



SEA OF MAR 






^iif#'* 






c?^^- 



^ -r: Munj^^ 



■^ » ■' i . 




< 



X 



THE WAR IN THE EAST 

Asia Minor, so that the Central Powers could draw no 
further supplies from that source. 

An attempt was at first made to force the passage of 
the Dardanelles with the aUied fleet. Some of the forts 
at the entrance were bombarded and silenced, and allied 
vessels proceeded for some distance up the strait. But 
Germany had sent submarines overland to Constantinople, 
where they were placed in the Bosporus and thence went 
down to the Dardanelles, and the waters were th^ickly 
sown with mines. After the loss of several vessels from 
these causes the allies abandoned the attempt to force 
the passage with ships alone, and an army was sent to 
cooperate with the fleet. 

THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN 

The ensuing campaign was one of the most gallant but 
most fruitless of the war. The almost unprecedented 
feat was performed of safely landing a considerable army 
on the Gallipoli Peninsula, in the face of a hostile force 
much superior in numbers and powerfully entrenched. 
This was done on April 25th, and was repeated in the 
landing of a second army in June, further up the peninsula 
at Suvla Bay. Numerous minor engagements were fought, 
and the allies made some progress during the early part 
of the summer. Early in August a great battle was fought, 
lasting five days, in which the allies aimed to drive the 
Turks from the lower part of the peninsula. In this they 
failed, and the battle terminated indecisively. 
' In one respect, however, it was decisive. It convinced 
the British military authorities of the foUy of attempting 
to pursue the campaign further. They held their ground 
for some time longer, however, until the entrance of Bul- 
garia into the war enabled the sending of German troops 

157 



THE WAR IN THE EAST 

and supplies to Constantinople, and a succession of phe- 
nomenal storms and floods almost swept the camps out of 
existence. At the middle of December Suvla Bay was 
abandoned, and on January 9, 1916, the last position 
of the allies on the ueninsula was evacuated. 



THE RAPE OF SERBIA 

Bulgaria's entrance into the war, on October 6th, was 
the signal for a concerted attack upon Serbia, for the 




purpose of eliminating that nation from the map of Europe. 
Bulgaria armies, reinforced by Turks, poured into Serbia 
from the east, while a German and Austrian army, under 
German command, crossed the frontier at the north. 
The purpose was not alone to destroy Serbia but to compel 
Greece to join the Central Powers or else share the fate of 
Belgium, and thus to give the Central Powers possession 
of the entire Balkan Peninsula, with a great frontage on 
the Mediterranean. 
158 



THE WAR IN THE EAST 

Disregarding Greek neutrality, or with the permission 
of the ministry, the allies began rushing troops to Salonika, 
to be sent to the defense of Serbia. But it was too late. 
The Serbians earlier in the war had been able to hold the 
Austrians in check, but they were unable to stand against 
a German army, while a Bulgar-Turkish force was attack- 
ing their flank. The German and Bulgarian armies met 
and joined forces at the end of October, and a few days 
later captured the important Serbian city of Nish. Before 
the end of the year every foot of Serbian soil had been 
conquered, and a large part of the Serbian people had 
been massacred. 

For nearly a year the Teuton-Bulgar forces had undis- 
turbed possession of Serbia, looting it and desolating it 
at will, while a polyglot army of allies, British, French, 
Serbian, Italian and Russian, stood at bay at Salonika. 
At last, however, the allies moved northward through 
Macedonia, and succeeded in redeeming a small part 
of Serbia, the Serbs reoccupying their city of Monastir, 
or what was left of it, on November 19, 1916. 

THE ROUMANIAN BLUNDER 

Early in the war agitation arose in Roumania for entry 
into the conflict. But lack of preparedness, and realiza- 
tion of the futility of the fortifications of Bucharest against 
modern artiUery, restrained the government from taking 
that step until the latter part of August, 1916 — more than 
two years after the outbreak of the war. Immediately 
after the declaration the Roumanian army invaded Tran- 
sylvania through several narrow mountain passes, which 
they strangely neglected to guard after their passage. 
The result was that the passes were seized by the Germans 
behind them, and they were all but annihilated. 

159 



M E D I t/e R B A N e AS S £ -4 
I Burun 



THE WAR IN THE EAST 

By the middle of October the blundering Roumanians 
were all killed, captured, or scattered, and the German 
and Austrian army under Von Falkenhayn invaded Rou- 
mania. At the same time another German and Bulgarian 

army, under Von Mackensen, 

poured into Roumania from 
the south. The Roumanians 
rallied and offered desperate 
resistance to the invaders, 
but they were overwhelmed 
and in a few weeks more 
than half of the kingdom was 
occupied by the enemy, the 
capital, Bucharest, falling on 
December 6th. The advance 
of a considerable Russian 
army finally checked the in- 
vaders at the River Sereth. 
Immense supplies of food- 
stuffs and oil fell into the 
hands of the Germans, and 
the net result of the entry of Roumania into the war was a 
decided advantage for the Central Powers. 




THE WAR IN ASIA 

Three separate campaigns have been waged in Asia. 
One has been in Arabia and on the Egyptian frontier, 
where Turks and Germans made vigorous attempts to 
seize the Suez Canal and to incite an insurrection against 
British rule in Egypt. There the British were successful 
in defeating their foes. In addition, practically the whole 
of Arabia, including the Holy Cities of El Medina and 
Mecca, revolted against Turkey and established its inde- 
160 



THE WAR IN THE EAST 

pendence. The British forces then moved on, and early 
in the present year began the occupation of Palestine, 
with every prospect of soon expelling the Turks from 
all that country. 

THE DESOLATION OF ARMENIA 

Russia undertook at the beginning of the war a cam- 
paign through the Caucasus into Armenia and Asia Minor. 
It was marked with blundering and came to naught. 
In return, the Turks invaded the Transcaucasian provinces 
of Russia, and then began, under German direction, the 
extermination of the Armenian nation. The German 
atrocities in Belgium were emulated by the Turks and 
their Kurd levies, on a gigantic scale. Certainly several 
hundred thousand and probably nearly or quite a million 
non-combatant Armenians, men, women and children, 
were put to death with every refinement of cruelty — rape, 
mutilation, flaying, burning, drowning and starvation. 

At last the Russian Grand Duke Nicholas, the conqueror 
of Galicia, was put in command in the Caucasus, and in 
February, 1916, he swept into the Turkish Empire in Asia, 
capturing Erzeroum, BitHs, Trebizond and Erzingan. He 
was too late to save Armenia, but he was able to co-operate 
efficiently with a British army which was moving up 
Mesopotamia. 

THE BAGDAD CAMPAIGNS 

Twice the British essayed to reach Bagdad from the 
Persian Gulf. The first attempt was made in the fall of 
1915, and the expedition was successful in penetrating 
to within less than twenty miles of the ancient city. It 
was animated with more valor than discretion, however, 
being too small and not sufficiently supported along its 

11 161 



THE WAR IN THE EAST 

lines of communication and supply at the rear. The 
result was that it had to fall back to Kut-el-Amara, where 
it was besieged for several months and at last was com- 
pelled by starvation to surrender, on April 28, 1916. The 
valor of the troops so impressed the Turks that they treated 
the prisoners with all possible consideration and courtesy, 
thus presenting a grateful contrast to the conduct of 
Germans toward those who were so luckless as to fall into 
their hands. 

The second British expedition up the Tigris and Euphrates 
valley was better planned and was more successful; having 
also the advantage of the co-operation of the Russians at 
the north. It captured Kut-el-Amara on February 26, 
1917, and on March 11th occupied Bagdad, eighty miles 
further on. A junction was then effected with, the Russian 
forces moving down from Erzeroum. These operations, 
in conjunction with the British occupation of Southern 
Palestine, threatened to confine the Turkish sway in Asia 
to Asia Minor west of the Anti-Taurus Mountains. 



162 



Chapter XI 
COLONIAL CONQUESTS 

Origin and Extent of Germany's Colonial Empire — Her Ambition to Rival 
Great Britain — Dreams of a German South Africa — Loss of Sea Power Fatal 
to Her Outlying Possessions — Japan's Seizure of Kiao Chao — Australia and the 
German Islands — Other Groups in the Pacific — Togoland and the Kamerun 
Territory — The Boer-British Conquest of German South Africa "the Most 
Unkindest Cut of AH" — German East Africa the Last to Fall. 

I 

THE GERMAN Colonial Empire vanished. That was 
one of the first definite results of the war, and one of the 
most significant. The development of a world-wide colonial 
empire, rivaling that of Great Britain, had long been the 
dream and the ambition of the Kaiser and his lieutenants. 
The colonial policy had been devised and founded by 
Bismarck himself, just thirty years before this war undid 
it all, and it had been consistently and earnestly promoted 
by all his successors. At the outbreak of the war the 
German Colonial Empire existed in Africa, in Asia, in the 
Indies, and in Polynesia. It had a total land area nearly 
five times as great as that of Germany itself, and a popula- 
tion one-fifth as great. Most of the German colonies were 
in Africa, and it was the dream of Germany to dominate 
that continent, north, central and south. Togoland and 
the Kamerun territory were among her earliest possessions, 
and she planned to extend the latter so as to include 
most if not all of the Congo State. It was thus a part of 
her scheme in attacking Belgium at the beginning of this 
war to acquire, through the conquest of that little kingdom, 
the Congo State which belonged to it. The following were 

163 



COLONIAL CONQUESTS 

the various German possessions as enumerated in "The 
Statesman's Year Book," all of them being Crown Colonies, 
under the absolute rule of imperial governors : 

THE GERMAN COLONIES 



Date of 
Acquisition 



Estimated 

Area, 
Sq. Miles 



Estimated 
Population 



In Africa: 

Togoland 

Kamerun 

German Southwest Africa. 
German East Africa 



Total African possessions . 

In Asia: 
Kiauchau Bay 



In the Pacific: 
German New Guinea: 

Kaiser Wilhelm's Land . 

Bismarck Archipelago. . 

Caroline Islands 

Palau or Pelew Islands . 

Marianne Islands 

Solomon Islands 

Marshall Islands, etc. . . 
Samoan Islands: 

Savaii 

Upolu 



Total Pacific possessions. . . . 
Total Foreign dependencies. 



1884 

1884 

1884-90 

1885-90 

1884-90 
1897 



1885-86 
1885 
1899 
1899 
1899 
1886 
1886 

1899 
1899 

1884-99 

1884-99 



33,700 
191,130 
322,450 
384,180 



1,000,000 

3,500,000 

200,000 

7,000,000 



931,460 



2001 



70,000 
20,000 

560 

250 

4,200 

150 

660 
340 



11,700,000 



30,0001 



300,000 



56,000 



33,000 



96,160 



389,000 



1,027,820 



12,119,000 



' Exclusive of the Bay with an area of about 200 square miles, and the neutral zone with an area of 
about 2,500 square miles, and population of 1,200,000. 



AFRICAN AMBITIONS 

In North Africa she began intriguing for control of 
Morocco years ago, coveting its strategical position, com- 
164 



COLONIAL CONQUESTS 

manding one shore of the strait between the Mediterranean 
and the Atlantic. Her intrigues there led to the serious 
controversy with France which brought those countries 
near the verge of war and which was at last settled, very 




CAfisrofyi 



Possessions in Africa at the Outbreak of the War 



unsatisfactorily to Germany, at the Algeciras Conference 
of 1906. Indeed, it was probably his diplomatic defeat 
in that affair that determined the Kaiser to proceed with 
the world-war which he provoked eight years later. 

165 



COLONIAL CONQUESTS 

THE SOUTH AFEICAN DRAMA 

Most notable of all, however, was the empire-drama of 
South Africa. It was there, that the German Colonial 
Empire was founded, when in 1883-84 Prince Bismarck 
sent Frederick Luederitz to Angra Pequena to organize 
the colony of German Southwest Africa. It was a 
costly job, for it brought on the Hottentot war, which 
cost nearly $80,000,000 and the lives of several thou- 
sand Germans, while about 30,000 natives were ex- 
terminated. The next step was the acquisition of 
German East Africa, which extended inland to the 
boundary of the Congo and thus prevented any con- 
nection between British East Africa and British South 
Africa. 

When trouble began to brew in South Africa between 
the Boers and British, the German opportunity seemed 
to have come. The Kaiser sent his famous message of 
sympathy and encouragement to Paul Kruger, on the 
Jameson Raid, and tried to make the Boers feel that 
Germany was their friend, and that they had an ally on 
the spot in German Southwest Africa. Again when 
the Boer-British War came on, neutrality was grossly 
violated by the Germans in Southwest Africa in aid of 
the Boers, who were permitted to cross the frontier at will 
when pursued by the British, and then to return to the 
war. There were secret negotiations between the Boers 
and the Germans for a compact between them, to the 
effect that if the Boers succeeded in expelling the British 
from South Africa, all the colonies there should be put 
under German protection and be allied with the German 
colonies at the west and northeast of them, making prac- 
tically a great German empire occupying the whole of 
South Africa. 
166 



COLONIAL CONQUESTS 

THE SCHEME DEFEATED 

The leader of the Boers at that tirae, and the foremost 
advocate of that scheme, was Louis Botha, probably the 
ablest man the Boer race has ever produced. He was 
defeated in that war by Roberts and Kitchener, however, 
and he accepted the result loyally, and later became the 
Prime Minister of the British Union of South Africa. 
As soon as the present war was started, German agents 
approached him with plans for a revolution. He was to 
lead the revolution, throw off British government, and 
declare the union of the former British colonies with the 
German colonies, in a German South Africa extending 
from the Cape to the Congo. 

; But Botha said. No. He had accepted the results of 
the Boer war in good faith, and had sworn allegiance 
to the British crown, and he meant to keep his word. 
A few of his former comrades were seduced by the German 
tempters, and a small insurrection was started. Louis 
Botha thereupon took the field against them and sup- 
pressed them. He then organized the Boers into an army 
and set forth to conquer German Southwest Africa for 
the British crown; and did it! There have been few 
more striking incidents in history than that, in which 
the very men who were expected by the Germans to betray 
British South Africa to Germany, instead conquered 
German Southwest Africa for Great Britain. 

OTHER AFRICAN COLONIES 

Togoland was easily taken by the British early in the 
war. The Kamerun territory fell later, British, French, 
Belgians and Portuguese participating in the campaign. 
German East Africa was the last to fall in that continent. 

The German half of New Guinea, Kaiser Wilhelm's 

167 



COLONIAL CONQUESTS 

Land and the Bismarck Archipelago, were promptly taken 
by Australia, near the shores of which they lie. Other 
islands scattered about the Pacific Ocean were seized by 
the British and by the Japanese. 

One of the first to be taken was Kiao-Chao, the German 
colony in the Province of Shan-Tung, China, which had 
been seized by the Kaiser's personal orders in 1897, and 
which was intended to be made the basis of a German 
partitioning of the Chinese Empire. Japan laid siege to 
the place and after a blockade lasting from August 27 
to November 6, 1914, the Japanese troops, aided by a 
small British contingent, captured the place. 

In such fashion the German Colonial Empire was removed 
from the map of the world. 







' 


,.^-^ ^^ 


— "-^ — ' - ■'r^'''";^7j^ T ""^^ •^f^^ 


^^SSJlKS^'^V. a i^^^^i-C t A 


^^ 


^^ ,- '\l ^ ..^r--^^- ^ 


' ■ 


■•y , n'l ^^=^^E 1 ) ^J_ji_J^^====»i=«y=»=«pit^ , (<nr.ia TT ^, •• ^^'^ 






pLyatxgl 


^,0^.--^ fi. ^^;- T R 1 P L 1 
^f-" / (Itahan) 


r^^R... '^"^Z 




E G Y pV^^v '^ ^^^^ 




•''■ ^ I 


^^at\^^t\ '^ g'^^^jfl 




SAHARA D E^^.^ R T 

, v~ — ■ 
C ^ 


ypTIAN SOUDAN ^^^ ^^ 






^ ^ OmdurmanoUHARniM '^<yf^ .j 






1 y?l / Ado&f^^^^^i^jjiil'O 


—,-... 


FretKh Boundaiy. 


\ M'oJ^ \^ ■^"n.:/! 




Other Boundaries. 






"•"«•. r r' ABYSSINIA "^7 .yM 














f~->^_4^'^ \ f 1 "!: — ^^ /^s 




English fifilK 


/ / BRITISH !\<^ .^^$t 




9 , . , , ^ 1 '"P^ 


/ BC.6IAN /^„,, ,^^,^,T,^^^^ 




i ^' 


jNuo i ^ ' ' "•" ^^.' ,, 'v: 



EuBOPEAN Interests in North Africa 



16$ 



THE MKE TOfPEOO SW C0MR4NY 





AlulJKKN iSlBMAHINES 

Toji, tyjie of high speed ocean-going submarine; center, a submarine about to 
submerge; below, a mine-planting submarine. 






^/'^^t 



>^,^. 




■--iOCK,WSft 



•^■mm^'^ 



The Kiel Canal 
The keystone of Germany's naval defence, the canal joining the Baltic and 
the North Sea, was deepened lust in time for the beginning of the war. 



Chapter XII 
THE WAR AT SEA 

Great Britain's Sea Power Quickly Manifested — Her Fleet in Control of the 
Ocean — Disappearance of German Commerce from the High Seas — Many 
Vessels Interned in Neutral Ports — The German War Fleet Held Under Shelter 
at the Kiel Canal — Hundreds of Vessels of Millions of Tons Seized or Destroyed 
— Many Naval Vessels Also the Victims of War — Daring Raids of German 
Cruisers — Admiral Tirpitz and the PoHcy of Frightfulness — The Submarine 
Boat Campaign — Rules of International Law Disregarded — Destruction of 
American Vessels — The Tragedy of the Lusitania — The Battle off Jutland — 
Renewal of the Submarine Campaign — Enormous Destruction of Commerce, 
Including American, in the Weeks Before Our Declaration of War. 

THREE HUNDRED merchant vessels of about two- 
thirds of a million tons burden destroyed in seven weeks, 
six of them being American vessels. That was the record 
of the German U-boat campaign of frightfulness, immedi- 
ately before our declaration of war. 

That, however, was only a small part of the operations 
at sea during the great war, and a comparatively minor 
part; since great as were the losses to the commerce of 
the allies and of neutral nations, they were not sufficient 
to affect materially the carrying trade of the world, while 
they did not in the least degree affect the steel barrier of 
blockade which the allies maintained along the German 
coast. 

BRITISH SEA POWER 

At the very beginning of the war the sea power of Great 
Britain was triumphantly manifested. The German 
Emperor sneered at what he called that country's "con- 

169 



THE WAR AT SEA 



temptible little army," but he had a wholesome respect for 
its fleet and made no serious attempt to cope with it. His 
armies were mobilized and rushed irresistibly into France 
and Russia. But his mighty war fleet remained within 
the shelter of inland waters, chiefly at the Kiel Canal, 
while the mercantile marine of Germany, which had been 
the second largest in the world, disappeared utterly from 
the high seas. All vessels that could ran into home waters 
for safety. Many which were in American and other 
neutral waters remained there, interned for the duration 
of the war. Many were captured or destroyed by the 
navies of the allies. Meantime, despite many losses 
inflicted by a few daring German cruisers, the sea power 
of Great Britain enabled the commerce of the allies to 
continue substantially as in time of peace. 

THE COMMERCE OF THE NATIONS 

At the outbreak of the war the chief maritime nations 
had the following mercantile fleets: 

Nations. Vessels. Tonnage. 

British Empire 11,353 21,274,064 

Germany 2,166 4,706,027 

United States 2,589 3,522,913 

Norway 2,174 2,529,188 

France 1,539 2,285,728 

Japan 1,155 1,826,029 

Italy 1,177 1,736,545 

Sweden 1,462 1,122,883 

Russia 1,256 1,054,762 

Holland 809 1,522,547 

Austria-Hungary 433 1,018,210 

Spain 642 899,204 

Denmark 835 854,966 

Belgium 105 181,687 

170 



THE WAR AT SEA 



These figures suggest how comparatively sHght was 
the loss to the British Empire of the nearly 2,000,000 tons 
of shipping destroyed during the war by the German 
U-boats and a few cruisers. It amounts to less than ten 
per cent of the whole; and in fact was nearly compensated 
for by the building and purchasing of new ships and the 
capture of German vessels. 

THE NAVIEB OF THE WORLD 

Statistics of the navies of the various powers cannot be 
given quite so completely as of the mercantile fleets, the 
tonnage being lacking. The following table gives, however, 
the numbers of ships of various classes in the navies of 
the chief eight powers just before the outbreak of the 
war. The numbers include those built and in commission 
and also those actually in process of construction. Under 
"Battleships" are included dreadnoughts, pre-dreadnoughts 
and super-dreadnoughts. The eight powers, the names 
of which are abbreviated in the table, are the United 
Kingdom, France, Russia, Italy, Japan, Germany, Austria- 
Hungary, and the United States. They are thus given, 
not in the order of their strength, but according to their 
grouping in the early part of the war; the first five being 
the allied powers, the next two the central empires, and 
the last being the then neutral United States: 

Vessels. U. K. Fr. Rus. It. Jap. Ger. A.-H. U. S. 

Battleships 72 31 15 14 19 41 16 36 

Coast Defense 10 

Battle Cruisers 10 0404700 

Armored Cruisers . . 47 24 12 9 15 9 2 17 

Light Cruisers 85 8 10 18 19 49 12 18 

Destroyers 237 87 140 46 53 145 18 53 

Torpedo Boats 106 153 25 95 33 80 85 33 

Submarines 96 76 43 20 15 38 11 47 

171 



c" 2 a - 







en 

3 ^ 



^ 5. "^ 






c/: 



. p w 






«> w 


> 


S St 


H 






^■< 


>- 


rv f" 








^^ 


W 


2B 


■y. 






ro 3 




« f^ 




C 




"'^ 




0-2 




p 5 












CK '-' 








^•^ 




^b: 










a -^ > 



3 QJ 



w 



-C3 

a- 



THE WAR AT SEA 



MERCHANT VESSELS DESTROYED 

In the early part of the war enormous ravages were 
caused in both the mercantile and military fleets, chiefly 
by submarines and by cruisers. Several German cruisers 
for a long time evaded the pursuit of British ships, and 
cruised about the world destroying many British vessels. 
But by far the greater part of the destruction on both sides 
was done by submarines. The losses of the various coun- 
tries, belligerent and neutral, in the first seventeen months 
of the war, were as follows : 

No. of 
Countries. Vessels. Tonnage. 

British Empire 602 1,192,551 

Germany. 65 161,888 

Norway 77 103,023 

France 54 125,978 

Denmark 29 33,293 

Sweden 35 32,667 

Holland 21 36,843 

Russia 31 34,193 

Italy 25 60,217 

Turkey 18 18,150 

Belgium 6 12,211 

Austria-Hungary 6 13,240 

Spain 3 5,223 

Japan 3 16,015 

Greece.... 9 18,424 

United States 7 14,087 

Nearly half of the British ships were fishing smacks, 
trawlers and other small craft of from 100 to 300 tons. 
There were, however, fifty merchant steamers of more 
than 5,000 tons each. The German losses were at first 
chiefly inflicted by British cruisers which were ranging 
the seas in quest of the German raiders, but later they 

173 



THE WAR AT SEA 



were caused by submarines. The heavy losses of Norway 
were caused chiefly by mines in the North Sea. The 
American losses in that stage of the war were caused by 
mines, with the exception of one vessel, the William P. 
Frye, which was destroyed by a German cruiser under 
the pretence that she was carrying contraband. 

HEAVY NAVAL LOSSES 

The naval losses were heavy on both sides, and were 
pretty evenly balanced between Great Britain and Ger- 
many, down to the beginning of the year 1917. Only one 
important sea battle had been fought, and two or three 
minor engagements, and the losses were therefore inflicted 
chiefly by mines and torpedoes discharged by subma- 
rines. Down to the date named Great Britain lost 9 
battleships; 3 battle cruisers, all of which were in the 
battle of Jutland; 12 armored cruisers; 7 light cruisers; 
2 torpedo gunboats; 17 destroyers; 4 torpedo boats; 12 
submarines; and 3 mine sweepers. 

During the same period Germany lost 4 battleships, 
all dreadnoughts and all in the battle of Jutland; 3 battle 
cruisers, of which two were in that same battle; 1 pre-dread- 
nought, also in that battle; 6 armored cruisers; 20 light 
cruisers; 1 unprotected cruiser; 4 gunboats; 13 (probably 
many more) destroyers; 1 mine-layer; and a large number 
of submarines. 

Thus the British lost 69 vessels of all types, and Germany 
lost 53, besides an unknown number of submarines and 
probably some more destroyers. The British vessels lost, 
omitting submarines, mine-sweepers, etc., aggregated 381,105 
tons. The known German losses, omitting submarines 
and an unknown number of destroyers, aggregated 331,336 
tons. The German losses were therefore nearly equal to 
174' 



o23 !z; 

5 ^ » '^ 

s P a> (T 

S P <J 



0-, 



X3 3- 






a> 



7~ sr !^ ■-! 



H 



::P 
3 S 



^o, S S. 






X 



^3 



3 

3 Q a; 

3:,r(- D-rt> H 

3 (D 3 I 



3p^i' 



ss,3i^ 



3-3 0, z 
<i 2 c 0) - 

~ aj — ■ - 

<^ sr ^- " 

^^3 R. 

S'P e-K 

-^(JQ 3 ? 



o 



s s ° 
5s r^ < 

<S». ^J Q^ i I 

-^3-51 

^ "^ k;s 

a 05 7 3 

S w 2 "^ 

^ S ^'hh 

2 ^ " 
t^ ^ § 5' 
^•< s^5 

~ en ^ 
S cc _ o 

^ 2-3 3 





Courtesy of Joseph A. StHnmelz, Phila. 

Ramming a Submarine 
A merchant vessel, attacked by a submarine, sometimes can ram and sink her 
enemy before the fatal torpedo is fired home. The artist has revealed the result. 



THE WAR AT SEA 



the British in actual tonnage, and were much greater than 
the British in proportion to the entire navy. 

GERMAN CRUISER RAIDS 

A few German war vessels at the beginning of the war 
were unable to gain shelter with the rest of the navy at the 
Kiel Canal. The Goeben, a powerful battle cruiser, and 
the Breslau, a smaller cruiser, 
were in the Mediterranean, 
and fled to Constantinople, 
where they were purchased 
by Turkey, and afterward 
did service in the Black Sea. 
The swift cruiser Emden was 
in the Pacific. There and 
in the Indian Ocean she 
cruised for three months, de- 
stroying twenty-five or more 
merchant steamers worth 
$10,000,000, before she was 
overhauled and destroyed 
at Cocos Island by an Aus- 
tralian cruiser. Another, the 

Kdnigsberg, also in the Pacific, destroyed a dozen ships 
and then was caught hiding in the mouth of a river in 
East Africa. A third, the Karlsruhe, made a long and 
destructive raid in the Atlantic. 

Other daring and destructive raiders were the Moewe, 
the Prinz Eitel Friedrich, and Kronprinz Wilhelm, the 
last two of which ultimately sought refuge and were interned 
at Newport News, Va., while the first-named returned 
in safety to a home port. The only submarine raider to 
cross the Atlantic paid an unexpected and friendly visit 

175 




THE WAR AT SEA 



to Newport, R. I., in the fall of 1916, and the next day- 
sank several British and neutral ships within sight of our 
coast. 



NAVAL BATTLES 

The first naval battle of the war, in which several ships 
were engaged, was on August 28, 1914, when a British 




Map Showing the Scene of the Great Naval Battle of Jutland 

squadron dashed into the Bight of Hehgoland and sank 
three armored cruisers and two destroyers. The second 
176 



THE WAR AT SEA 



occurred on November 1st following, when the German 
Far East squadron, of five powerful cruisers, heavily 
armed, met four much weaker British vessels off the coast 
of Chili and quickly destroyed two of them, the other 
two making their escape. On December 8th a stronger 
British squadron came up with the Germans and destroyed 
them all. 

After several raids upon the British coast, in which a 
few unfortified coast villages were bombarded and some 
women and children were killed, a powerful fleet of German 
battle cruisers attempted a dash across the North Sea. 
They were intercepted by a British squadron, one of the best 
of them was sunk, and the rest were driven back to port. 

Finally, at the end of May, 1916, a large part of the 
German battle fleet came out from behind Heligoland 
and steamed northward. A much weaker squadron of 
British battle cruisers promptly engaged it, suffering heavy 
loss but inflicting still greater, until the main fleet could 
come up, when the surviving German vessels fled back 
to port in disaster. This so-called battle of Jutland was 
by far the most important of the war, and while at first 
announced as a German victory, was in fact a crushing 
defeat for the Germans and a clean-cut victory for the 
British navy. 

TIRPITZ AND FRIGHTFULNESS 

The chief operations of the Germans at sea were in 
submarine boats. This campaign was devised and prose- 
cuted under the direction of Admiral Von Tirpitz, whose 
pohcy was one of ''fright fulness." He meant to disregard 
the international laws of naval warfare, and to destroy 
ruthlessly and without warning every British vessel he 
could find and also every neutral vessel that did not obey 

13 177 



THE WAR AT SEA 



German dictation. The rules that merchant vessels 
must be visited and searched before they are condemned 
and destroyed, and that the passengers and crews must 
have warning and a chance for escape to safety, were 
quite ignored. 

We speak elsewhere of the destruction of American 
ships by the submarines, and of the destruction of American 
lives on ships of other nationalities; particularly in the 
infamous sinking of the Lusitania. It was this policy of 
frightfulness that led to America's chief controversy with 
Germany, and to the ultimate declaration of war. We 
have already referred to the destructiveness of the German 
submarines during the recrudescence of their campaign 
in the weeks immediately preceding the declaration of 
war by our government. This was the record in detail, 
from February 1 to March 22, 1917: 

TOLL OF THE U-BOATS 

In the fifty days there were destroyed by German sub- 
marines the following named vessels, of the nationalities 
and tonnage indicated: 

Nationality. Number. Tonnage 

American 6 20,746 

British 191 378,142 

French 9 30,906 

Russian 4 8,238 

Italian 8 12,394 

Spanish 8 16,433 

Norwegian 37 65,014 

Swedish 2 3,759 

Dutch 13 49,066 

Greek 9 16,226 

Miscellaneous 12 19,193 



299 620,119 
178 



»!*« y V 



' ■'*T 



rf0^ 



.^^ -' 





Courtesy of Joseph A. Stein metz, Phila. 

Torpedo Defence 
Warships at, anchor surround themselves with nets rigged out on spars to catch 
torpedoes. 



THE WAR AT SEA 



The following table tells the tale of U-boat destructive- 
ness day by day, during the first eighteen days of the reign 
of "f rightfulness," which Admiral Von Tirpitz boasted 
was going to destroy the mercantile marine of Great Britain 
and compel that country to surrender to Germany because 
of famine, within six months : 

Ships Sunk, Tonnage. 

February 1 10 13,039 

February 2 8 7,337 

February 3 6 10,159 

February 4 2 2,623 

February 5 5 8,729 

February 6 14 44,457 

February 7 13 30,352 

February 8 10 21,504 

February 9 6 10,424 

February 10 7 22,271 

February 11 2 1,725 

February 12 5 8,361 

February 13 4 14,896 

February 14 5 12,287 

February 15 6 7,750 

February 16 7 9,736 

February 17 4 7,483 

February 18 3 12,008 

FAILURE OF FRIGHTFULNESS 

Tremendous as was the damage done, the campaign 
of f rightfulness was a failure. The boast of Von Tirpitz 
had been that a million tons a month would be destroyed. 
In the eighteen days of February he destroyed only 245,140 
tons, or 13,619 tons a day — Httle more than one-third 
of his boast. In the fifty days of February and March, 
already noted, he destroyed an average of only 12,402 
tons a day. 

179 



THE WAR AT SEA 

Moreover, during most of the war Great Britain has been 
building new ships, or purchasing them, about as rapidly 
as the German submarines have been able to destroy them. 
Thus in the year 1915, in which occurred the loss of the 
Lusitania and other large vessels, the British losses and 
gains were as follows: 

No. Tons. 

steamships lost 741 1,452,679 

Sailing craft lost 334 82,222 

Steamships gained 655 1,461,816 

Sailing craft gained 152 61,934 

Total losses 1,075 1,534,901 

Total gains 807 1,523,750 

Net loss 268 11,151 

This loss was obviously in small sailing craft. In 
steamers there was a net loss of eighty-six in numbers, 
but there was an actual net gain in tonnage of 9,137 tons. 

INCREASE OF BRITISH COMMERCE 

Even in February, 1917, when unbridled ^'frightfulness" 
was let loose, there was an actual increase of shipping 
entrances and clearances at British ports. On February 
14th a high Admiralty official was quoted as saying: 

''More ships have entered and left'EngHsh ports in the 
last few days than for months past On February 13th 
more ships arrived and departed than on any day for six 
months. The average loss since Friday (February 9th) 
was one ship out of every thirty-five. In the English 
Channel, at a period when a greater number of ships than 
ever before are plying between British and French ports, 
the losses in the last two weeks (February 1st to 14th) 
have been extraordinarily small." 

During that entire month of February, when German 
180 




Courtesy of Joseph A. Steinmetz, Phila. 

Periscope of a Submarine 
A slender steel column, projecting above the surface of the water, is the eye of the 
submarine. The image enters at a side of the top, is reflected downward by a prism 
through lenses and a lower prism to the officer's eye. The periscope may be turned in 
any direction. 



1^'-' "fjm 



is"-' ' 



f:Mt»i'. 



03 




ft 


^ 


H ^ 






c 


a* 






-ij 


> 

0) 




-o 


III 




a 


Ci 






CC 


o3 


^ 


s 




O 


^ 
& 


03 


ft c 


a 


03 


ZJ 






>i 


03 


X2 



ft o 
ft w 



o -a 

G g 
OH 



?5 3 



•^ ft s 



o ^ 



THE WAR AT SEA 



submarines were destroying shipping at the rate of 13,000 
tons a day, there was an increase of British imports to 
the extent of more than $18,000,000 and an increase of 
exports of nearlj^ $5,000,000. At the same time, however, 
there was a marked decrease in American commerce. 
In February, 1917, as compared with January, our exports 
decreased more than 22.3 per cent, and our imports more 
than 17.8 per cent; a result chargeable chiefly to the 
German U-boat campaign, which caused a temporary 
suspension of American shipping. 



NAVAL CONSTRUCTION 

The building of fighting ships has also proceeded during 
the war, apart from submarines, at a greater rate than 
the destruction of them. Omitting submarines, destroyers, 
etc., the following additions have been made to the British 
navy, of vessels of the dreadnought or "aU big gun" 
type, the years named being those of the completion of 
the ships: 



Year. 

1914. 

1914. 

1915. 

1915. 

1915. 

1915. 

1915. 

1916. 

1916. 

1916. 

1917. 

1917. 

1917. 

1917. 



Guns. 



Name. ^ Tons 

Queen Elizabeth 27,500 ' 

Warspite ,27,500 

Barham 27,500 

Valiant 27,500 

Malaya 27,500 

Royal Sovereign 25,750 

Royal Oak 25,750 

Ramillies 25,750 

Resolution 25,750 

Revenge 25,750^ 

One Ship 27,500 8 15-inch. 

Renown 25,750 

Repulse 25,750 )■ 8 15-inch. . . 22.0 

Resistance 26,750 



' 8 15-inch. 



'8 15-inch... ^ 



Knots. 

'25.0 
25.0 
^25.0 
25.0 
25.0 
22.0 
22.0 
22.0 
22.0 
22.0 
25.0 



181 



THE WAR AT SEA 



The German shipbuilding programme is not as well 
known as that of Great Britain, but is believed to have 
been as follows: 



Year. Name. Tons. 

1914. Grosser Kurfiirst . . . 25,388 

1914. Markgraf 25,388 

1914. Konig 25,388 

1915. Kronprinz 25,388 

1916. "T" 28,500 

1916. Ersatz Worth 28,500 

1917. Ersatz Friedrich III 28,500 



Guna. 



> 10 12-inch. 



8 15-inch. 



Knots. 

'22.0 
22.0 
22.0 
22.0 
23.0 
23.0 
23.0 



Germany has also built four big battle cruisers, two of 
which were lost in the battle of Jutland, together with 
one older one. As she lost four battleships also in that 
engagement, it will be seen that her increase of naval 
strength during the war had been less than the British. 
For Germany has built seven and lost four battleships, 
a net gain of three, while Great Britain has built fourteen 
and lost nine, a net gain of five. 



182 




Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, A'. 1'. 

An American Fighting Machine 

The U. S. Battleship "Wyoming," making a "smoke curtain," behind which 

submarines or destroyers might launch an attack on the enemj'. 



Chapter XIII 
THE WAR IN THE AIR 

Literal Realization of the Poet's Dream of Two Generations Ago — Early 
Use of Balloons in War Time — For Observation in Our Civil War — Gambetta's 
Escape from Paris in 1870 — Aeroplanes Used in the Balkan War and by the Italians 
in TripoU — Extensive Emplo>Tnent of Various Kinds of Air Craft in the Great 
War — Captive Balloons for Observation — Aeroplanes for Scouting and Signaling 
— For Bombardment on Land and for Detecting Submarines at Sea — Aeroplanes 
Fighting in Mid-air Singly and in Squadrons — Zeppelins and Other Dirigible 
Balloons — Their Futile Efforts to Invade Great Britain — Universal Recognition 
of Air Craft as an Essential Arm of War on Land and Sea. 

THREE-QUARTERS of a century ago one of the world's 
greatest poets, in one of his loftiest flights of sheer imagina- 
tion, wrote that he — 

"... dipt into the future, far as human eye could see, 

Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be; 

Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails, 
Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales; 

Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rain'd a ghastly dew 
From the nations' airy navies grappling in the central blue; 

Far along the world-wide whisper of the south-wind rushing warm. 
With the standards of the people plunging thro' the thunder-storm; 

Till the war-drum throbb'd no longer, and the battle-flags were furl'd 
In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world." 

It was a dream, the world declared; regardless of the 
fact that while — 

183 



THE WAR IN THE AIR 



"Some dreams we have are nothing else but dreams, 
Unnatural, and full of contradictions; 
Yet others of our most romantic schemes 
Are something more than fictions." 

Three-quarters of a century; and now is the most graphic 
and most amazing feature of the bard's fancy fulfilled to 
the very letter; leaving us amid our wonderment to specu- 
late, pleasingly and hopefully, upon the possible fulfilment 
in equal measure of the remainder of the splendid vision. 

EARLY USE OF WAR BALLOONS 

Some use of balloons was indeed made in war at a very 
early date. Scarcely a dozen years after Montgolfier's 
invention there was formed in 1794 at Meudon, near Paris, 
an aeronautical institute for the purpose of training men 
to make military observations from balloons, and such 
observations were actually made, with valuable effect, 
at the battle of Fleurus, near Charleroi, in June, 1794. 
It is probable that those aerial observations materially 
contributed to the winning of that crowning victory of 
the French Revolutionary army over the Austrians. 

Balloons were also used for similar purposes in the 
Austro-Italian War in 1859, and during our own Civil 
War. In the Suakin campaign in March, 1885, observa- 
tion balloons were first used by the British army. These 
were all, of course, captive balloons, held fast with ropes, 
and served no other purpose than that of giving an extremely 
elevated point of view. The most important use of moving 
balloons was made at Paris in 1870-71, during the siege. 
It was in such a vehicle that Leon Gambetta left that city, 
to organize government outside its walls; and in such 
fashion millions of letters were sent out from the beleaguered 
capital before its surrender. 
184 



THE WAR IN THE AIR 



AEROPLANE DEVELOPMENT 

All this, however, was very far from anything like ''airy 
navies grappling in the central blue," and down to the 
beginning of the present century there was little thought, 
except among dreamers and inventors, of the practical 
use of air craft as fighting machines. It was supposed, 
however, that it might be possible to drop explosives 
and incendiary devices from balloons upon armies, camps 
and cities, and accordingly at the congress at The Hague 




Fi6;3 



COMPABISON OF THE CURTISS TrIPLANE FlTING BoaT 

(Fig. 1) OF 133-FOOT Span, with the "America" (Fig. 2) 
OF 72-FOOT Span, and a Standard Hydro-aeroplane 
(Fig. 3), 35-poot Span. Fig. 4 i8 Side View op Fig. 1 

in 1899 there was adopted a rule — to which, however, 
the United States and Great Britain alone of all the powers 
declined to subscribe — prohibiting such use of balloons 
for bombardment, for a period of five years from that 
date. At the same time, it may be added, a rule was 
adopted forbidding the use of poisonous or asphyxiating 
gases in warfare. 

The inventions and practical demonstrations of Langley 
and the Wright brothers in America presently revealed 
to the world the extraordinary possibilities of an entirely 
different type of air craft. This was the aeroplane; a 
true flying machine. It was heavier than air, containing 

185 



THE WAR IN THE AIR 




Wright Biplane 



no reservoir of buoyant gas, but depending for levitation 
upon the form of its wings or planes and upon the action 
of an engine-driven propeller. The development of the 
first crude models into air craft capable of soaring several 

miles above the earth and 
rushing through space at 



the rate of a hundred or 
a hundred and fifty miles an 
hour, with singular nicety 
and certainty of guidance 
and completeness of control, 
must be accounted one of the 
most remarkable achieve- 
ments of inventive science in human history. 

At the same time the balloon, or '^hghter than air" 

craft, was not abandoned, but more or less successful 

attempts were made to make it dirigible and self-propelling. 

Count Zeppehn, in Germany, 

was most successful in this 

direction, constructing vast 

ships, hundreds of feet in 

length, capable of carrying 

each a score or more of 

men with artillery and 

heavy stores of explosives, 

and of making well-directed 

voyages of hundreds of 

miles without descending. With such vessels it was hoped 

effectively to invade England. 




Wright Biplane (rear) 



AERIAL EQUIPMENT OF THE POWERS 

At the beginning of the war France easily led the world 
in aeroplanes. Her army had 1,200 such machines, besides 

186 




Reproduced by pei'iii 



:'/!!,, 1 Li I iidelphia Museums 

Tokens of Our Natural Resources 
Above, harvesting in the west; below, steam harvester and thresher. 



THE WAR IN THE AIR 



26 dirigible balloons, of which 12 were nearly 400 feet in 
length. Germany had only 600 military aeroplanes, with 35 
dirigible balloons of the Zeppehn and other types, many of 
them as much as 490 feet long. Russia had 800 aeroplanes 
and 16 small dirigibles; Great Britain 500 aeroplanes and 15 
dirigibles; Austria 100 aeroplanes and 10 dirigibles; Belgium 
40 aeroplanes and 2 dirigibles; and Serbia 40 aeroplanes. 

The chief powers immediately began the purchase and 
manufacture of air craft on an enormous scale, and inventors 
busied themselves with devising all sorts of improvements 
upon them for military purposes. In Germany both 
aeroplanes and gigantic dirigibles of the Zeppelin type 
were constructed, while the other powers gave their atten- 
tion almost exclusively to aeroplanes. The latter were 
made to carry one or tw^o men, and were armed with rifles 
and machine guns, for fighting other aeroplanes and also 
for attacking the huge Zeppehns after the fashion of torpedo 
boats attacking a dreadnought. They were used as adjuncts 
to the army, to observe the position and movements of 
the foe and to direct the artillery fire upon vulnerable 
points. They were also used in connection with the fleet, 
especially to spy out submarines and to give warning of 
their approach; a submarine forty feet below the surface 
being clearly visible from an aeroplane cruising overhead. 

In order to repel attacks by aeroplanes and dirigibles, 
and to destroy them, both land forces and vessels were 
equipped with guns specially designed for shooting high 
into the air, and these were often used with much effect, 
especially against the giant Zeppelins. 

THE WAR IN THE AIR 

As the war proceeded the number of air craft multiplied 
until the aeroplanes on each side along the western battle 

187 



THE WAR IN THE AIR 




^ § S I S-i 

O fl t3 £ OJ K 

g a^ . o -a 



«._ 9»v',>9 >/fSi/»t r"*f»ir- 




tc'^l' CO S''^ 
c3 t-^ a> *-• 

gPiH . S 03 

J-^ i I .a 

g no a o 

fe -p ^ c» ^ 



188 



c 


;> 






ts 


•-»-. 


■o 


CO 


ro 


r« 


D- 


T 


g 





~ •-8 

P :: 

CD I 

PS 






poo 

CO — ■ H 



o p" 



a 



fti 



^ ° ffi 

3 P H 



f*D >^ 

^5- 

fC P 
fo O 

g^3 

^^ 

^3 

n 2 
o-g 

p (3- 

O P 

H-ftlrtl 
^^ 

^ b: 

P o 

CO g- 





Zeppelin Device roB Deoppinq Bombs. 
An armored car is suspended by three cables from the Zeppelin airship 
to a distance of several thousand feet below the monster air-craft, which 
is concealed in the clouds above. (Sphere oopr.) 



THE WAR IN THE AIR 



front were to be counted by thousands. Many of the 
aviators did most of their work singly, in mid-air duels, 
and there were those who had records of having brought 
down twenty, thirty or more aeroplanes of the enemy. 
Some of the most daring and most efficient on the French 
side were American volunteers, who were indeed so nume- 
rous that an American squadron of aviators was formed. 
Much of the fighting was also done in squadrons, and 
there were days when from a single point on the battle 
front hundreds of aeroplanes were visible, soaring, circling, 
signaling and fighting. Of the immense value of these 
craft there was never a moment's doubt. 

THE FAILURE OF THE ZEPPELINS 

The gigantic Zeppehns, as the dirigible balloons were 
called after their inventor, were on the contrary a costly 
failure. So far as the most careful investigation can 
determine, not one of those vessels made a single raid with 
results at all commensurate with its cost, while almost 
every one that undertook an important exploit came to 
disaster and ruin. Some were wrecked in storms, some 
had trouble with their engines or gas tanks and exploded, 
but most of them were shot down by terrestrial artillery 
or by the swift and agile aeroplanes which whirled about 
them fike tiny kingbirds attacking crows. 

Many of them did fly over England, and by dropping 
explosive and incendiary bombs upon residential viUages 
destroyed some houses and churches and killed many 
non-combatant people, chiefly women and children. Some 
even raided parts of London and did a little damage there, 
though their chief effects were to afford exciting spectacles 
to the populace, and to exasperate the people into enlisting 
more numerously for mifitary service. In forty-four 

189 



THE WAR IN THE AIR 



raids they killed 431 persons. But scarcely one of them 
returned to Germany to tell the tale. Several were shot 
down, and plunged to English earth, blazing wrecks, 
while others were pursued, overtaken and destroyed at 
sea by the vengeful bird men of the British aeroplane 
service. 

FALSE TALES OF DESTRUCTION 

' The only important achievements of the Zeppehns 
were performed in the imaginations of German officials 
and newspaper writers. There were some lurid tales of 




Airship Zeppelin III 
a a, engines; h, rudder; c c, dipping-planes; d d, propellers. 

destructive raids which had laid England under a reign 
of terror, every word of which was false. Thus on February 
1, 1916, the German Naval Staff officially reported that 
airships had thrown bombs upon Liverpool and Birken- 
head with important results, including heavy explosions 
and great fires. The German Embassy at Washington 
added that a large number of bridges had been damaged 
so that they could not be used, several ships were damaged, 
docks, dry docks, engine works, boiler works and a powder 
factory were destroyed, and in all over two hundred houses 
were destroyed by bombs and fires. 

Now, says Mr. S. S. McClure, the well-known American 
publicist, who visited Liverpool shortly after that date, 
"As soon as I reached Liverpool I was eager to see for 
myself what had happened. I saw nothing, for nothing 
had happened. No Zeppelin had ever come near Liver- 
190 



» I»1U * 1 » . ^ 1. 






O"^ 




CD fD 




n P 




P <! 




^ 7 




^ -r*- 




£,cr 


^ 


?? 


tri 


rt 


2 p 


H 


'^'^^■ 


H 


P p 


o 


ct;3 


•^ 






ilTM 


W 


"< p 


K| 


r+-f 


a 


o cr 


M 


I-* c 


O 


^1 

CD 




O CL 


W 


3 ^, 


O 


P 


^ 




> 


§"1 


^>5' 


2 


p tfi 


CB 






is 


> 


C5 


g-p 




O P 




p-p 
p cr 


O 


< m 


td 


o 


to 


OR "-^ 




■^ 2 


o 2 


W 




K 


G-S- 




:^ 


g 5' 


> 


^ 


o 3 




s o 




>-! 




P o 




w <i 




^ ^" 








p ^ 




S" ^ 




3 CT> 




rx> i-i 




&.<! 








B?i' 




era 




^o 




H- 1. ^-4- 




s tr 




<rt- ^ 




p'ru 




CD ft 




S.^ 








■-» .rt- 




tr 




p 




D 






■^i;- 




THE WAR IN THE AIR 



pool, Birkenhead or Manchester." (''Obstacles to Peace, '^ 
page 158.) A similar but even more detailed and explicit 
denial of the story was made by a Swedish journalist whom 
Mr. McClure quotes. 

There were also German reports of Zeppelin raids upon 
London: ''The alarm and consternation was indescrib- 
able. . . .' The population was for the most part in hiding 
in cellars and underground railway tunnels. ... On 
the Thames several bridges sustained severe injury. Nume- 
rous destructive fires were caused in the West India Docks. 
. . . Rumor puts the loss of life at twenty-one thousand. 
. . With many a mighty crash blocks of houses were 
torn asunder." 

Says Mr. McClure: "This whole statement is pure 
imagination. . . . The absolute truth is, that none of 
the statements made by the German Government or the 
German newspapers is true, so far as anyone can find out." 

Yet the German people absolutely believed these fables. 

The military importance of the raids was entirely nil. 
Upon the British people the effect was merely that of 
exasperation against an enemy that thus waged war against 
non-combatants, and of incitement to engage more vigor- 
ously in the task of defeating and crushing that enemy. 
Upon the German people the effect of the fanciful fables 
was, no doubt, to restrain them from the disaffection, 
despair and revolt which would have been caused by 
knowledge of the truth. 

THE FUNCTION OF THE AIRSHIP 

The net conclusion thus far attained, as the result of 
nearly three years of war, is that the gigantic dirigible 
balloon is of little practical value for military operations; 
not at all commensurate with its cost and its perils. The 

191 



THE WAR IN THE AIR 



aeroplane, on the contrary, both of the small one-man 
type and of the large two-men or three-men type, is of 
immense and practically indispensable value. But its 
value is, after all, chiefly as an adjunct to the army and 
navy, for observation, scouting and signaling purposes, 
and occasionally for the dropping of explosive or incendiary 
bombs upon vulnerable points. It can no more take the 
place of terrestrial armies than the submarine boat can 
take the place of the battleship. With all the cost and all 
the activities of aircraft of various kinds in this war, not 
a single military operation of significance has been effected 
by them alone or upon their initiative. 



192 



Chapter XIV 
THE SINEWS OF WAR 

The World's Costliest War — Finances of the European BeUigerents — TTieir 
Huge Debts Before the War — Enormous Credits Voted — Astonishing Response 
of the People — Figures that Stagger the Imagination — Throwing the Almost 
Inexhaustible Wealth of America Into the Scale — Seven BiUions Voted in a Single 
Lump — A Huge Loan to Our Allies — The Problem of Supplies of Food and 
Munitions of War — Importance of Sea Power — Nations Haunted by the Spectre 
of Famine — Historic Instances of Starvation in War. 

THIS WAR costs billions where other wars cost millions. 
It is incomparably the most expensive war, in dollars and 
cents, that the world has ever known. That is not only 
because of its magnitude in geographical extent and in 
the number of nations and men involved. It is also because 
the advanced scientific methods of waging war are far 
more costly than the old ways. A single dreadnought 
now costs more than the whole British navy did in Nelson's 
day. When the shells which are fired from cannon cost 
hundreds of dollars each, and are fired by hundreds of 
thousands, the ammunition bill ''staggers the imagination." 
The result is that the belligerents are incurring indebtedness 
almost beyond the power of the average human mind to 
appreciate. 

Before the war began the European powers were 
heavily burdened with debts, which had, as we 
have seen, been largely incurred through military 
preparations and the maintenance of huge arma- 
ments. 

13 193 



THE SINEWS OF WAR 



DEBTS BEFORE THE WAR 

The public debts of the belligerent nations just before 
the war, expressed in United States money, were as follows: 

Austria-Hungary $3,709,534,000 

Belgium and Congo 795,785,000 

Bulgaria 135,300,000 

France and Colonies 6,469,894,000 

Germany, States and Colonies 4,945,314,000 

Great Britain, India and Colonies 8,307,442,000 

Italy 2,669,748,000 

Japan 1,271,745,000 

Portugal 968,324,000 

Roumania 294,061,000 

Russia and Finland 4,639,305,000 

Serbia 128,078,000 

Turkey 554,441,000 

United States 1,027,575,000 

In this table Austria-Hungary is charged with the joint 
debt of the two countries and with the separate debt of 
each; Germany is charged with the imperial debt, the 
various state debts, and the colonial debt; Great Britain 
alone bore much less than half the debt charged to her 
with India and the colonies; the United States is charged 
with only the national debt and not with any of the state 
debts. 

GREAT LOANS QUICKLY TAKEN 

The principal European belligerents promptly voted 
enormous credits for carrying on the war, to which the 
people responded with a readiness far beyond normal 
anticipation. Loans were generally far over-subscribed, 
though they amounted to billions each. Down to the 
beginning of 1917 the cost of the war to the various nations 
was estimated in round numbers as follows: 
194 



THE SINEWS OF WAR 



Great Britain $14,374,000,000 

British Colonies 1,000,000,000 

Total for British Empire $15,374,000,000 

France 12,200,000,000 

Russia 8,500,000,000 

Italy '.'.' 4,000,000,000 

Belgium 490,000,000 

Serbia 330,000,000 

Roumania : 250,000,000 

Total to all the Allies $41,144,000,000 

Germany $14,600,000,000 

Austria-Hungary 5,000,000,000 

Turkey 650,000,000 

Bulgaria 375,000,000 

Total to Central Powers $20,625,000,000 

Grand total to all belligerents $61,769,000,000 

This total was calculated to be nearly three times as 
much as the aggregate cost of all the wars of the world 
since the American and French Revolutions, including 
the Napoleonic wars, our War of 1812, Civil War and 
war with Spain, the Crimean War, the Austro-Italian 
and Austro-Prussian wars, the Franco-German War, the 
Russo-Turkish War, the Boer-British War, the Balkan 
wars, and the Russo-Japanese War. At the beginning 
of 1917 the daily cost of the war to the allies was $70,000,000 
and to the Central Powers $35,000,000, a total of 
$105,000,000 a day. 

It can readily be understood, then, what it meant to 
the allies to have the United States join them and vote 
at once an initial credit of $7,000,000,000, the largest 

195 



THE SINEWS OF WAR 



sum ever voted at once by any government in the history 
of the world; of which at least $2,000,000,000 was to be 
loaned forthwith to the European allies. 

LOANS AND TAXES 

These enormous war expenditures have been chiefly 
met with borrowed money, but they have been in part 
met directly with increased revenue from taxation, and 
in a much larger part than had been supposed possible. 
Thus from August 1, 1914, to March 15, 1917, the British 
Government borrowed $15,328,000,000, while at the same 
time it raised $5,205,000,000 through taxation. Thus 
it met more than twenty-five per cent of the war expenses 
through taxation, without borrowing or increasing its 
indebtedness, an extraordinarily large proportion. In 
France the war will have cost, on June 30, 1917, the sum 
of $16,580,000,000, of which $2,420,000,000 will have come 
from taxation, or about 14.5 per cent. 

Germany, on the other hand, until lately made no 
increase in taxation, but depended exclusively upon loans. 
The theory of this system was, that Germany would conquer 
the allies and compel them to pay indemnities sufficient 
to redeem all her war loans. All that was necessary there- 
fore was to borrow money until the end of the war, and 
then make the conquered nations pay the debts. Germany 
also extorted — in plain English, stole — enormous sums 
from Belgium, which she added to her war chest. She 
also had the advantage of keeping aU her money at home. 
The blockade of her coasts prevented her from purchasing 
supplies abroad, and so no money was sent out of the 
empire, save comparatively small amounts to Denmark, 
Holland and Turkey. By the spring of 1917, however, 
Germany had incurred indebtedness the interest upon 
196 



THE SINEWS OF WAR 



which was $747,000,000 a year. Now the entire revenue 
of the empire before the war was only $634,000,000 from 
taxation and $260,000,000 from railroads, posts and 
telegraphs; wherefore a considerable increase in tax- 
ation was necessitated, to meet the interest charges on 
the debt. 

AMERICAN SUPPLIES FOR THE ALLIES 

The allied powers have from the first been looking to 
the United States for a great part of their supplies, both 
of munitions of war and of foodstuffs. The result has 
been an enormous increase in the foreign trade of the 
nation. Our exports had ranged from $2,170,000,000 
in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1912, to $2,716,000,000 
in that ending June 30, 1915; but in the next year, the 
first full fiscal year of the war, ending June 30, 1916, they 
increased to $4,272,000,000; an increase of 57 per cent 
in one year. 

Still more significant was the destination of this trade. 
Our exports to the Central Powers of Europe practically 
ceased, while those to the allies enormously increased. 
Thus before the war we had sold $335,000,000 worth 
yearly to Germany, but in 1916 that amount shrunk to 
only $288,851. On the other hand, our exports to France 
rose from $146,000,000 in 1913 to $630,000,000 in 1916; 
those to Italy from $76,000,000 to $270,000,000; to Russia 
from $26,000,000 to $313,000,000; and to Great Britain 
from $597,000,000 to $1,518,000,000. There was also a 
gTeat increase, for a time, to certain neutral countries: 
To Denmark from $18,000,000 to $55,000,000; to Norway 
from $8,000,000 to $53,000,000; and to Sweden from 
$12,000,000 to $51,000,000. It was quite obvious that 
this increase could not be required to supply the needs of 

197 



THE SINEWS OF WAR 



those countries, but, as they were in close commercial 
intercourse with Germany, that the enormous surplus 
above their own requirements was being transshipped to 
the latter country. It was on that perfectly logical and 
just ground that the allies interfered with that trade and 
prevented unlimited imports into neutral lands having 
trade relations with Germany. 

EXPORTS OF MUNITIONS OF WAR 

Significant, too, was the character of our trade. Thus 
animals, chiefly horses and mules, rose from $7,000,000 
in 1913 to $99,000,000 in 1916; brass and brass ware 
from $8,000,000 to $164,000,000; vehicles from $54,000,000 
to $167,000,000; chemicals from $26,000,000 to $124,000,- 
000; explosives from $5,000,000 to $467,000,000; iron 
and steel from $304,000,000 to $621,000,000; leather from 
$63,000,000 to $146,000,000; woolen goods from $4,000,000 
to $53,000,000; and zinc from $406,000 to $48,000,000. 
These changes could have only one possible meaning. 
The United States was supplying the allied powers with a 
large proportion of their munitions of war. 

There was also a large increase in our exports of food- 
stuffs of various kinds, though this was not so marked as 
the increase of munitions because the surplus above our 
own needs was limited. But so much was sent abroad 
as to cause an enormous rise in the domestic prices of food. 
Never before in our history did prices rise so high as in the 
spring of 1917. The gold prices of wheat and potatoes 
then were considerably higher than they had been in depre- 
ciated paper currency during the Civil War. The highest 
price of wheat in depreciated paper scrip in the Civil War 
was about $2.85 a bushel; in April, 1917, it rose to $3.10 
in gold. 
198 



THE SINEWS OF WAR 



THE SPECTRE OF FAMINE 

From an early date in the war the grim spectre of potential 
famine haunted the European belligerents; and by the 
second year of the war all the peoples were placed upon a 
siege diet. The governments took possession and control 
of all food supplies, and fixed the prices and determined 
the amounts that should be distributed to the people. 
First attention was paid to the wants of the armies, it 
being essential that the physical strength of the soldiers 
should be maintained. After that, the non-combatant popu- 
lation fared but meagrely, especially in the blockaded Central 
Empires. Still, at the worst, they did not approximate the 
famine-pangs which others had endured in other wars. 

There has, for example, been in Germany no such priva- 
tions as those which German armies a generation ago 
imposed upon beleaguered Paris. In that City of Light 
in the war of the Terrible Year the market price of eggs 
rose to 45 cents apiece. A box of sardines cost $3 and a 
cauliflower the same. Potatoes were $10 a bushel. Fresh 
butter was $12 a pound. A head of cabbage cost $2.50, 
while a single carrot was valued at 45 cents. Preserved 
beef was $3 a pound and ham was $7 a pound. A fowl 
cost $14, a hare $15 and a rabbit $12. 

So much for legitimate food supphes. But in the horrors 
of that siege Parisians eagerly devoured that which at other 
times would have caused their gorge to rise as filthy and 
obscene. Cats were eaten, by those who could pay $3 
apiece for them; crows were delicacies at $1 each, and 
even rats were not disdained at 50 cents. As for bread, 
there was a loathsome composition, consisting largely 
of sawdust, but containing other ingredients which cannot 
decently be named, and this was doled out daily at the 
rate of a third of a pound to each person. 

199 



THE SINEWS OF WAR 



HORRORS OF ANCIENT SIEGES 

One of the most appalling examples of siege starvation 
the world has known was in the last siege of Jerusalem, 
when parents slew and devoured their own children. But 
some cases, in comparatively recent times, were scarcely 
less gruesome. One was that tremendous siege of London- 
derry, in which the defenders of the city gathered in the 
cathedral and, before the altar, vowed and decreed the 
death of a traitor to any one who should so much as utter 
the word '' surrender." There are tales of cannibalism 
during that fearful struggle, while it is related that one 
prominent citizen whose corpulence strangely enough 
was not materially diminished by the famine seldom 
ventured to show himself in pubhc because of the hungry 
and wolfish looks which were cast upon him by his starving 
neighbors. For a time, before the relief of the city, the 
rations of each fighting man were half a pound of tallow 
and three-quarters of a pound of salted hide. These 
were given to the men whose strength must be kept up 
so that they might fight. As for the rest of the populace, 
pity forbids speculation upon the scantness and the horrors 
of their fare. 

THE HEROES OF LEYDEN 

Still more appalling was the plight of the defenders 
of Leyden in the last grim struggle of the Netherlanders 
against the might of Spain. For weeks, before the succor 
of the northwest hurricane, famine in its most hideous 
forms held sway over the devoted city. "Bread, malt 
cake and horse-flesh had entirely disappeared; dogs, cats, 
rats and other vermin were esteemed luxuries. A small 
number of cows, kept as long as possible for their milk, 
still remained J but a few were killed from day to day 
200 



THE SINEWS OF WAR 



and distributed in minute portions hardly enough to 
support Ufe among the famishing population. Starving 
men swarmed daily around the shambles where these 
cattle were slaughtered, contending for any morsel which 
might fall, and lapping eagerly the blood as it ran along 
the pavement; while the hides, chopped and boiled, were 
greedily devoured. Women and children, all day long, 
were seen searching gutters and dunghills for morsels of 
food, which they disputed fiercely with the famishing 
dogs. The green leaves were stripped from the trees, 
every living herb was converted into human food, but 
these expedients could not avert starvation." 

The dying parents sent their dead children to the Burgo- 
master in protest against his resolution not to surrender, 
but these moved not his iron will. Indeed, he came out 
before them, bearing in his body the marks of as great 
privations and suffering as any of them had endured, 
and bade them kill him and eat his flesh for food rather 
than expect him to surrender the city to a fate far worse 
than death. Thus were they heartened again, so that 
they flocked to the crumbling battlements of the city wall 
and shrieked defiance at their merciless besiegers. ''Ye 
call us rat eaters and dog eaters," they cried, ''and it is 
true. So long, then, as ye hear dog bark or cat mew within 
its walls, ye may know that the city holds out. And when all 
has perished but ourselves, be sure that we will each devour 
our left arms, retaining our right to defend our women, our 
liberty and our rehgion against the foreign tyrant." 

Against such resolution what could avail the might of 
Spain? At last came the spring tide and the northern 
hurricane, sweeping through the broken dikes and return- 
ing the land to the sea; upon the van a fleet of ships 
thronged with the wild Zealanders, more wild than the 

201 



THE SINEWS OF WAR 



gale, more raging than the tide, sweeping on through 
flooded meadow land and orchards, the men bearing their 
ships upon their shoulders over the bars and shallows, 
hurling themselves in more than Berserk fury upon their 
countrymen's besiegers, spitting Spanish cavaliers upon 
their whale harpoons or dragging them with barbed boat- 
hooks to within reach of their deadly flenching knives. 
And the Spanish fled when they thus saw the sea ''devour- 
ing the earth beneath their feet, while on the waves rode 
a flotilla manned by a determined race whose courage 
and ferocity were known throughout the world." 

THE PRESENT SCARCITY 

We shall look for no such starvation in this war, though 
beyond doubt the present scarcity is painful. Before 
the war Germany was the greatest importer of food supplies 
in all the world, in both gross and net. Her imports of 
food amounted to $1,640,000,000, and her exports to only 
$398,000,000, leaving net imports of $1,242,000,000— a 
colossal volume, the loss of which could scarcely fail to 
cause speedy and desperate distress. The second importer 
was Great Britain, with $1,403,000,000 imports and 
$163,000,000 exports, or net imports of food, drink and 
tobacco of $1,240,000,000. France was much more nearly 
self-sustaining, but even she imported $340,000,000 and 
exported $170,000,000, making her net imports of food 
$170,000,000. In Russia the balance was on the other side. 
Her imports of foodstuffs were set down at only $67,067,000, 
while her exports were $494,273,000, making her net exports 
$427,206,000. Russia could therefore easily get along 
without foreign supphes, and France could also do so; 
while for either Germany or Great Britain complete block- 
ade would mean starvation. 
202 



Chapter XV 
GERMAN RELATIONS WITH AMERICA 

Colonial Days — Attitude of Frederick the Great in the Revolution — Employ- 
ment of Hessians and Other German Troops by the British Government — The 
Era of German Migration to America — German Unfriendliness in the Spanish 
War — Its Animus — The Perilous Episode at Manila — Prince Henry and the 
German Propaganda — German Professors — Denial of the Monroe Doctrine — 
Germany Warned Out of Venezuela — Anti-An erican Intrigues at Panama — 
Meddling in the Danish Islands. 

RELATIONS BETWEEN the United States and Ger- 
many began at a later date than those with Great Britain, 
France or Spain. That was because Germany was not 
one of the colonizing powers in North America, and because 
down to the time of and during our Revolution the affairs 
of Europe engaged German attention to the exclusion of 
everything on this side of the sea. The German settlers 
in the thirteen colonies, while of a substantial character, 
were not sufficiently numerous to affect the course of 
public affairs. Among the patriot leaders of that time 
the great majority were of English origin. There were 
also some, including some of the foremost, of Scottish, 
Irish, Welsh, Dutch and French extraction. Germans 
were conspicuous by their absence. 

FREDERICK THE GREAT 

Germany's first interest in America, if interest it may 
be called, was at the beginning of the Revolution. Because 
British soldiers sympathized with the Americans and 
refused to fight against them, the German King of England 

203 



GERMAN RELATIONS WITH AMERICA 

was constrained to look elsewhere for mercenary troops. 
His first application was made to Russia, and his second 
to Holland. He failed to get troops there, from the one 
because Catherine the Great could not well spare them, 
and from the other because the Dutch would not fight 
against a people struggling for their hberty. The next 
application was made to various German states, among 
them Prussia. Now Prussia, under Frederick the Great, 
had only a few years before risen into prominence as a 
great military power, and a detachment of its army would 
have been of great service to George III. But Frederick 
refused to hire him any troops; probably for three reasons. 
One doubtless was, that he felt aggrieved at England 
for what he regarded as her desertion of him in a former 
war. Another was, that in the unstable equilibrium 
which then existed among the powers of Europe he did 
not deem it prudent to separate himself from soldiers 
whom he might himself need at any time. 

The third reason, which has been ascribed to him was 
that, as he'^is reported to have said, he was not wiUing 
that his soldiers should fight against people who were 
seeking their freedom. It is entirely possible and not 
improbable that he, with his strange, contradictory, 
enigmatic character, did feel and express that sentiment. 
That his sympathy with America went any further does 
not, however, appear. We know that he persistently 
refused to receive or to have any dealings with the American 
envoy who was sent to his court, and w^hile he doubtless 
felt and may have expressed admiration for the military 
genius of Washington, there is no indication that the storj^ 
of his sending of a sw^ord to him with the message, ''From 
the Oldest General to the Greatest," is anything more 
than a picturesque fiction. 
204 



GERMAN RELATIONS WITH AMERICA 

THE HESSIANS 

Other and minor German princes were more compliant 
with the wish of George III, and in Hesse and elsewhere 
thousands of soldiers were procured, who formed the 
majority of the British army all through that war. These 
soldiers did not, of course, enter the service voluntarily. 
They were sold by their rulers, like so many cattle, at so 
many dollars a head. Nor did their rulers thus sell them 
because of any anti-American feeling. It was simply a 
sordid matter of business. Many of the soldiers were 
reluctant to come hither, and some of them deserted at 
their first opportunity. Most of those who were taken 
prisoners preferred at the close of the war to remain here 
rather than be repatriated, and many of them became 
excellent American citizens. 

It must be remembered, however, that the Germans 
who fought through that war under the British flag were 
as a rule characterized by brutality and lack of humanity. 
Most of the excesses and outrages against non-combatants 
were committed by them — such as the murder of the 
wife of Caldwell, the pastor of the church at Springfield, 
New Jersey, who, because of that atrocity rushed into 
his church and brought out hymn-books for the patriot 
troops to use for gun wadding. Indeed, because of the 
tragic deeds of those days the name ^'Hessian" has ever 
since been in this country a synonym for lawlessness and 
brutality. 

STEUBEN AND DE KALB 

Occasional attempts have been made in recent years 
to attribute to Germany great helpfulness to the American 
cause, on account of the services of Steuben and De Kalb. 
There is no question of the splendid value of their services 

205 



GERMAN RELATIONS WITH AMERICA 

to the American army, or of their whole-hearted devotion 
to this country. But they are not to be credited to 
Germany. 

Steuben, for whom no praise could easily be too high, 
was a Prussian, and was one of the most brilliant of the 
great Frederick's lieutenants. But he came to this country 
from France, where he had been living, and at the urging 
of a Frenchman, the Count St. Germain; and by so doing 
he incurred the displeasure of the Prussian King to such 
an extent that at the end of the war he deemed it best 
not to return to Germany, but to become an American 
citizen and remain here, which he did. 

De Kalb was also a brave and efficient soldier. He was 
a Bavarian, whose entire mihtary career before coming 
hither had been in the French army, largely fighting against 
Prussia, and he came to America as a French officer, 
in company with Lafayette. 

Excepting, therefore, for the accident of their place of 
birth, America was not indebted to Germany for either 
of these fine soldiers, but directly and solely to France. 

GERMAN IMMIGRATION 

German immigration to America may be said to have 
begun in the decade from 1831 to 1840. Before that time 
it was a negligible quantity, as was all immigration but 
that from the United Kingdom. Thus in the preceding 
eleven years, 1820 to 1830, more than 75,000 came hither 
from the British Isles and only 6,761 from Germany, 
and fewer than 100,000 from all the world. But in 1831-40 
the number from all Europe rose to nearly 500,000. More 
than half of them were from the United Kingdom, chiefly 
from Ireland, but no fewer than 152,454 came from Ger- 
many. Then in the next decade, the revolutionary era 
206 



GERMAN RELATIONS WITH AMERICA 

on the continent, there came nearly 1,600,000, of whom 
two-thirds were from the United Kingdom and 434,600 
from Germany. Finally, in the next decade, that just 
preceding our Civil War, immigration from Europe totaled 
nearly 2,500,000, more than half being from the British 
Isles, and 951,667 from Germany. 

Since that time the influx of Germans has not been 
large; in late years it has been almost nil. But the multi- 
tudes of that nationality who came hither before the Civil 
War have formed with their descendants an important 
element of the American nation, and have contributed 
much to our statesmanship, scholarship and business and 
industrial progress. They have generally been regarded 
as forming one of the most substantial and valuable ele- 
ments of the body pohtic. 

GERMAN IMPERIAL UNFRIENDLINESS 

Because of this great influx of Germans and their generally 
excellent character, strong ties of sympathy arose between 
this country and Germany. American sympathy was 
with Prussia against Austria in 1866, and it was also largely 
with Germany in 1870. Indeed, it was practically alto- 
gether with Germany at first, until after the fall of Louis 
Napoleon, and even after that it was given to the new 
German Empire no less than to the French RepubUc; 
and thenceforward for many years the relations between 
the two countries were of the most amiable description. 
There was a little friction in Samoa, but it caused no ill 
will toward Germany as a whole. 

But in 1898 the German Government suddenly assumed 
an attitude of decided unfriendHness toward the United 
States. Just before the declaration of war with Spain, 
it formed a cabal of the great powers, to seek mediation 

207 



GERMAN RELATIONS WITH AMERICA 

of some description. That was a most offensive imperti- 
nence, since for two-thirds of a century we had made it 
clear that we considered our relations with Spain in respect 
to Cuba as a matter of concern to no other power; but the 
gentle forbearance and tact of President McKinley passed 
it over without the sharp rebuke which it really deserved. 
This course was taken by the President because Germany 
had persuaded the British Ambassador, under a plausible 
pretext, to act as the spokesman of the cabal, in order 
that the odium might fall upon Great Britain and cause 
bad blood between the United States and that country. 
The complete failure of the scheme, either to secure media- 
tion and thus let European powers meddle in purely Ameri- 
can affairs, or to cause trouble between us and Great 
Britain, so angered the Kaiser that he presently recalled 
his luckless Ambassador in disgrace. 

SPANISH WAR MEDDLING 

The Kaiser at that time began to broach the arrogant 
principle that no important international business should 
be transacted anywhere in the world without taking him 
into consultation. His displeasure with the United States 
therefore waxed hot. The press of Germany, taking its 
cue from the Wilhelmstrasse, raged against the ''Yankee 
Pigs" more savagely than that of Spain itself. Antici- 
pating our seizure of the Philippines, the Kaiser sought 
to avert it by himself occupying them first. So he rushed 
a fleet thither, and great was his wrath to find that Dewey 
had got there first and had destroyed the Spanish fleet. 
In his anger he ordered the commander of his fleet to ignore 
Dewey's authority. He violated international custom 
and courtesy by sending thither a much stronger fleet 
than ours, and in having it not only disregard Dewey's 
208 



GERMAN RELATIONS WITH AMERICA 

authority but also actually give aid and comfort to the 
besieged Spanish garrison. Two German vessels went to 
a neighboring port and materially assisted the Spanish by 
firing upon Filipino troops which were co-operating with 
the Americans. 

The climax came when the German ships committed a 
particularly flagrant breach of Dewey's orders, and Dewey 
curtly informed the German Admiral that if he wanted 
war he could have it, there and then. The German there- 
upon consulted the British commander. Admiral Chich- 
ester, and strove to inveigle him into concerted action 
against the Americans. The Englishman's reply was, that 
he was acting under orders the purport of which were known 
to only himself and Dewey, and he thereupon moved the 
British squadron to a position between the German and 
American ships, so that the German Admiral, with his 
superior force, could not attack Dewey without firing over 
the British vessels. There is no doubt that Chichester's 
orders from the British Government were, in case of a 
clash between the German and American fleets, to place 
himself and his ships at Dewey's command. 

PRINCE henry's propaganda 

Thus foiled, the Kaiser tried new tactics. He sent 
his brother. Prince Henry, to America, ostensibly on a 
mission of courtesy and friendship, but in fact to found 
and promote a German propaganda in the United States. 
A vast German-American League was formed, with semi- 
mihtary organization, the chief objects of which were to 
keep alive devotion to the Fatherland, to prevent Germans 
here from becoming Americanized, and to remind them 
that under the anomalous laws of Germany they were 
still German subjects despite the fact that they had formally 

14 209 



GERMAN RELATIONS WITH AMERICA 



renounced allegiance to the Kaiser and had sworn allegiance 
to the United States. That system of ''dual allegiance" 
was purely a German device, recognized by no other 
country. 

A system of exchange of professors between German 
and American universities was also arranged, and several 
active German propagandists secured election as permanent 
professors in American universities, where they busied 
themselves with the insidious extension of German principles 
and interests to the utmost possible degree. 

AGAINST THE MONROE DOCTRINE 

With the development of the German Colonial Empire 
and the vast extension of German commerce, the need of 
some German possessions in America was felt. The 
acquisition of such a holding was barred by the Monroe 
Doctrine, and therefore German opposition to and denial 
of that American principle were incessant. While other 
European governments either tacitly or in terms recognized 
and respected it, Germany alone persistently refused to 
do so in any way, but habitually referred to it with con-^ 
tempt. 

During the administration of President Roosevelt three 
attempts were made by Germany to discredit the Monroe 
Doctrine and to injure the interests of this country. One 
was in connection with Venezuela. Germany put forward 
certain claims against that country, and purposed to send 
a naval and military expedition thither to invade the country 
and seize upon a part of it at least until the claims should be 
satisfied. Our government had not objected to the col- 
lection of just claims by proper methods, but to this, which 
savored of conquest for the satisfaction of probably spurious 
claims, it did object. The President therefore informed 
210 



GERMAN RELATIONS WITH AMERICA 

the German Ambassador that when the German expedition 
reached Venezuelan waters, it would find waiting for it 
the American hne of battle fleet, under command of Admiral 
Dewey. The German expedition was not sent. 

MEDDLING AT PANAMA 

Another attempt to thwart American policy and to 
impair American interests was made by Germany at 
Panama. When negotiations were undertaken by our 
government for a treaty with Colombia, giving us the 
right to construct the Isthmian Canal, German influences 
prevailed upon the Colombian Minister, Mr. Concha, to 
refuse to make the treaty; and he finally quitted his post 
at Washington, and went to Germany, rather than com- 
plete the negotiations. His successor, Dr. Herran, did 
negotiate a treaty, but German influence at Bogota was 
directed^ against it, and ultimately prevented its ratifi- 
cation. Meantime efforts were made to persuade Colombia 
to grant a canal concession to a German company. 

It was during that same administration that a treaty 
was made with Denmark for our purchase of the Danish 
West India Islands. It was ratified by our Senate, and 
by the Lower House of the Danish Parliament; but it 
was defeated in the Upper House, notoriously through 
German influences and intrigues. 



211 



Chapter XVI 
THE TRIBULATIONS OF A NEUTRAL POWER 

America's Attitude toward the War, and the Attitude of the Belligerents toward 
America — German Disregard of Treaties — American Insistence upon Interna- 
tional Law — Questions of Contraband and Blockade — Restraints of Neutral 
Trade — The Use of Neutral Flags by Belligerents — Germany's Submarine Warfare 
in Violation of International Law — The Lusitania Infamy — German Perjuries — 
"Strict Accountability" — The Sussex Case — American Warnings to Germany — 
The Falaba, Gushing, Gulflight, Nebraskan, Arabic and Other Vessels — German 
Evasions — American Patience Exhausted — The Arming of Merchant Ships — 
Severance of Diplomatic Relations — Declaration of War. 

"THE UNITED STATES," said President Wilson in 
his neutrality note to the Senate on August 14, 1914, ''must 
be neutral in fact as well as in name." It was. But its 
neutrality did not save it from serious and distressing tribu- 
lations at the hands of belligerents who had no regard for 
neutrality, who reckoned good faith a weakness, and to 
whom treaties and international law were mere scraps of 
paper. 

The Secretary of State on August 6 caused inquiries to be 
made of all belligerents whether the Declaration of London, 
of 1909, would be respected as the law of naval warfare. 
Germany and Austria-Hungary replied in the affirmative, 
but Great Britain, France and Russia submitted certain 
modifications, enlarging the list of contraband and recon- 
structing the rules for prize courts. In view of this disagree- 
ment of the belligerents, the United States then announced 
that it would insist upon the rights of this country and its 
citizens as defined by international law and treaties, 
regardless of the Declaration of London. Great Britain 
212 



THE TRIBULATIONS OF A NEUTRAL 

on August 5th and 13th issued Msts of contraband articles, 
which it would not permit to be carried into German ports; 
practically all ''conditional" contraband being thus made 
absolute. Similar lists of contraband were issued by the 
other belligerents. 

Early in the war some controversy arose with Germany 
over the treatment of armed merchant vessels, our govern- 
ment holding that they should be treated as merchant 
vessels so long as the arms were for defense only, and 
Germany insisting that they should be treated as warships. 
The dispute was left for the time unsettled. Some contro- 
versy also arose with Great Britain over her interference 
with our commerce, in the course of which the British 
Government pointed out that it was following the rules laid 
down by our own government during the Civil War. 

Germany's submarine war 

The abandonment of international law in naval warfare 
was announced by Germany on February 6, 1915. The 
German Government then proclaimed that the high seas 
surrounding the British Isles, including the whole of the 
English Channel, were a war zone, and that on and after 
February 18th every enemy merchant ship found therein 
would be destroyed without regard for the safety of passen- 
gers and crews. That meant that the long-established rule 
providing for visit and search before seizure of destruction 
was to be ignored, and that vessels were to be torpedoed on 
sight, even without warning, without any attempt to 
ascertain their real character or that of their cargoes. It 
was also stated that neutral ships would be in danger of the 
same treatment, since it would not be possible in all cases 
to discriminate between them and enemy vessels. 

The reason for this astounding proclamation of piracy 

213 



THE TRIBULATIONS OF A NEUTRAL 

was simple. Germany's navy dared not come out and face 
the British fleet, and all maritime operations had therefore 
to be conducted by submarines. But submarines were so 
vulnerable that they dared not show themselves above 
water in the vicinity of possibly hostile vessels. They 
dared not, therefore, employ the usual and legal methods 
of visit and search, but purposed to attack and destroy 
suspected ships without any such formalities. 

THE AMERICAN PROTEST 

Against this monstrous policy the United States pro- 
tested. In a note of February 10, 1915, it declared that 
if in pursuance of this policy Germany should ''destroy on 
the high seas an American vessel or the lives of American 
citizens, it would be difficult for the United States to view 
the act in any other light than as an indefensible violation 
of neutral rights which it would be very hard indeed to recon- 
cile with the friendly relation subsisting between the two 
governments." In the same note our State Department 
continued with the memorable words : 

"If such a deplorable situation should arise, the Imperial 
German Government can readily appreciate that the Govern- 
ment of the United States would be constrained to hold the 
Imperial German Government to a strict accountability 
for such acts of their naval authorities and to take any 
steps it might be necessary to take to safeguard American 
lives "and property and to secure to American citizens the 
full enjoyment of their acknowledged rights on the high 
seas." 

GERMANY ON THE BLOCKADE 

The German Government repHed on February 16th that 
it had been driven to the adoption of this policy by 
214 



THE TRIBULATIONS OF A NEUTRAL 

''England's murderous method of conducting maritime 
war." The ''murderous method" was nothing in the world 
but the long-estabhshed and universally recognized system 
of blockade, by means of which contraband goods were 
excluded from the ports of the enemy — precisely such as 
the United States maintained along its Southern coast during 
the Civil War. This, of course, excluded foodstuffs, and thus 
threatened Germany with famine. But in railing against 
this as "murderous" and "contrary to law of war and 
every dictate of humanity," Germany strangely ignored 
the fact that in her war against France in 1870-71 she had 
pursued precisely the same course, excluding foodstuffs from 
the cities of Strasburg, Metz and Paris until the civilian 
population died by thousands of sheer starvation and the 
places were forced for that reason alone to surrender. She 
ignored the fact that when, on those occasions, the women 
and children and other helpless non-combatants sought to 
depart from the beleaguered cities, leaving the fighting men 
to bear the brunt of famine, they were forced back into the 
cities at the point of the bayonet and were even fired upon. 
In further communications the German Government 
refused to admit the right of merchant ships to be armed, 
even for purposes of defense, and insisted upon the free 
admission of food supphes into Germany to meet the 
wants of the civihan population. The pretense that 
imports of food were thus sought solely for civilians, and 
that such food should not be considered contraband, was of 
course a quibble, since the civilians would have had enough 
food without importing any if their supphes had not been 
taken from them for the army. The new supphes which 
were demanded were therefore intended to meet a deficit 
caused by mihtary uses, and were thus obviously contra- 
band. 

215 



THE TRIBULATIONS OF A NEUTRAL 

TRAFFIC IN MUNITIONS OF WAR 

The German Government in April, 1915, accused the 
United States Government of violation of neutrality and of 
taking an unfair attitude toward Germany, because it did 
not prohibit the export of munitions of war to the allied 
powers. This was grossly disingenuous, to say the least. 
The German Government must have known that it was not 
in the power of the Administration, but required an act of 
Congress, to place such an embargo on commerce. It 
certainly knew that in selling arms the United States was 
merely maintaining the policy which had prevailed since 
the foundation of the government, and the policy which 
other nations, Germany herself conspicuously included, con- 
sistently followed. Germany had provided Spain with all 
the munitions of war she needed in the Spanish-American 
War of 1898, and the United States had never thought of 
objecting or remonstrating. 

Of course in the present war there was no unfairness to 
Germany. American manufacturers would have been just 
as ready to sell munitions to Germany as to the allies. 
But Germany, because of the disappearance of her com- 
mercial marine from the high seas, was unable to purchase 
our goods; or if she did purchase any, was unable to get 
them transported to her shores. Her claim was, therefore, 
the absurdly illogical and unreasonable one, that because 
she did not want or could not carry home our goods, we 
should refuse them to those who did want them and were 
able to take them. To this preposterous demand the 
American Government fittingly replied that "the placing of 
an embargo on the trade in arms would be a direct violation 
of the neutrality of the United States," inasmuch as it 
would be a change of policy calculated to help one belligerent 
and to injure another. 
216 



THE TRIBULATIONS OF A NEUTRAL 

GERMAN ORDERS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS 

There then occurred an incident unique in diplomatic 
history, involving one of the grossest affronts that one 
government ever offered to another. The United States, 
as already related, had insisted upon the right of its citizens 




t.>a«*T Houpe 



Germany's Official Paid Advertisement Forewarning Americans 
Against Disaster; Map Showing Where It Took Place 

This advertisement was wired to forty American newspapers by Count 
von Bernstorff, German Ambassador at Washington. It was ordered inserted 
on the morning of the day the Lusitania sailed. 



to travel unmolested upon the high seas, and had said that 
it would hold to ''strict accountability" anyone who 
interfered with that right. Now the German Imperial 
Government, through its embassy at Washington, issued a 
proclamation to the people of the United States, by means 
of advertisements in the leading newspapers. In that 

217 



THE TRIBULATIONS OF A NEUTRAL 

proclamation it warned them that they would thus travel at 
peril of their lives, unless they complied with the commands 
of the German Government as to the routes which they 
should take, the time of their journeys, and the vessels on 
which they traveled. It practically told American citizens 
that if they wanted to travel in safety they must not trust 
to the protection of their own government, but must obey 
the directions and trust to the protection of Germany. 

In any other country of the civilized world the publication 
of so astounding an impertinence would probably have 
resulted in the instantaneous dismissal and expulsion of the 
Ambassador who had dared to utter it, if not also severance 
of relations with his government. But our government 
patiently endured the outrage, merely referring to its 
''surprising irregularity" and saying that no such warning 
could be accepted as an excuse for or palHation of an unlaw- 
ful act. 

THE LUSITANIA 

There swiftly followed fulfilment of the German menace. 
On May 7, 1915, the British steamer Lusitania,an unarmed 
merchantman, bound on her regular voyage from New York 
to Liverpool, was torpedoed without warning by a German 
submarine. Of her passengers and crew numbering 1,959, 
no fewer than 1,198 were lost, including 124 Americans, a 
large proportion of them being women and children. This 
unparalleled atrocity, which was regarded with horror by 
all the rest of the world, was greeted with delirious outbursts 
of joy throughout Germany, and by the German and pro- 
German element in the United States. When the news of 
it reached New York, the walls of German restaurants, 
theatres and beer gardens literally quivered under the 
stress of the exultant cheers. In Germany the government 
218 



S 3 t-^ 



^ S 



3 



CO (t) 

2 P 



ffi 



O 

3 

tr 

B 

3 
v; 

o 





Courtesy of Josiph A. Steimnetz, Phila. 

Damage Caused by a Torpedo 
This photograph shows the bow of a steamer in drydock after being struck by 
a torpedo on the port side. The e_xplosion blew numerous fragments of wreckage 
through the plates on the starboard side. 



THE TRIBULATIONS OF A NEUTRAL 

issued medals commemorative of the event, on which was a 
grim representation of the slaughter of women and children. 
Our government patiently contented itself with a diplo- 
matic note, declaring it to be ''wise and desirable" that the 
American and German governments should ''come to a 
clear understanding as to the grave situation." There 
followed much diplomatic controversy. Germany at first 
insisted that the Lusitania was armed, and not merely for 
defense but for attack, so that she was in fact a ship of war. 
An agent of the German Government was produced, who 
swore that he had seen cannon placed aboard the ship. This 
was utterly false, and it was afterward admitted that the 
German agent had deliberately and purposely committed 
perjury. There were intimations that the German Govern- 
ment might be willing to pay an indemnity of so much a 
head for the Americans who had been murdered, but it 
would not disavow the crime; and in the end the contro- 
versy lapsed without result, and crime remained unatoned. 

OTHER VESSELS DESTROYED 

The Falaba, a British vessel, was destroyed by a German 
submarine on March 28, 1915, and one American hfe was 
lost. The Gushing, an American vessel, was on the same 
day attacked by a German aeroplane. The Gulflight, an 
American vessel, was destroyed on May 1st, with the loss of 
one American life. These all preceded the Lusitania. The 
attacks on the Gushing and Gulflight were explained by 
Germany as "mistakes," and an offer was made of such 
reparation as the facts in the case might warrant. Similar 
disposition was made of the case of the American steamer 
Nebraskan, which was attacked by a submarine on May 25th; 
of the Leelanaw, an American ship, which was destroyed on 
July 27th; and of the English steamer Orduna, on July 9th. 

219 



THE TRIBULATIONS OF A NEUTRAL 

The British steamer Arabic, with a number of Americans 
aboard, was sunk by a submarine on August 19th, and an 
attempt was made to excuse the act on the lying pretense 
that the Arabic had attacked the submarine. But on 
October 5th Germany disavowed the act, offered to pay 
indemnities for the American Hves lost, and stated that 
strict orders had been given which would prevent any more 
such occurrences. This was received by our government 
with expressions of gratification. 

In January, 1916, the United States proposed to the 
allied belligerents a set of rules for the regulation of naval 
warfare, providing that no merchant vessel should be 
armed; that no vessel should be attacked without warning 
or without being ordered to stop and be searched; and that 
all should thus submit to search. The powers declined, 
however, to accept these rules on the mere strength of a 
non-guaranteed German promise that if they complied 
with them the German atrocities would cease. 

THE CASE OF THE SUSSEX 

The British passenger steamer Sussex was sunk by a 
submarine in the Enghsh Channel on March 24, 1916, with 
several Americans among its company. The German 
Government at first tried to pretend that the Sussex was 
mistaken for a mine-layer, and then that she had been sunk 
by a British mine. Our government promptly proved, how- 
ever, that she was an unarmed passenger vessel; that she 
had been sunk without warning, by a German torpedo; 
and that eighty of her passengers, non-combatants, including 
many women and children, and including several American 
citizens, had perished. In its note to Germany on the case 
the American Government said: 

"It has become painfuUy evident that the use of sub- 
220 



THE TRIBULATIONS OF A NEUTRAL 



marines for the destruction of an enemy's commerce is of 
necessity because of the very character of the vessels 
employed and the very methods of attack which their 
employment of course involves, utterly incompatible with 
the principles of humanity, the long-estabhshed and incon- 
trovertible rights of neutrals, and the sacred immunities of 
non-combatants. . . ," and threatened to sever diplomatic 
relations. 

In response the German Government declared that it 
could not dispense with the use of submarines, but that it 
would make certain concessions to the rights of neutrals 
and modifications of the under-sea warfare which it 
beheved would be satisfactory to the United States. This 
assurance was accepted by the United States and the 
matter was considered settled. 

THE BREACH OF RELATIONS 

There followed some futile correspondence between this 
country and the powers on both sides concerning peace, 
and then, at the end of January, 1917, came the beginning of 
the end. On January 31st the German Ambassador at 
Washington handed to the American Secretary of State 
a note withdrawing the pledges which had been made in 
settlement of the Sussex case, to the effect that merchant 
ships should be warned before being sunk and that neutral 
lives and property should be protected. It was official 
notice that the war zone around the British Isles was to 
be still further extended and that a most ruthless campaign 
of destruction was to be waged against all vessels entering 
it. It was condescendingly stated that one American ship 
a week would be permitted to visit a certain English port, 
provided that it would comply with various fantastic 
German requirements. 

221 



THE TRIBULATIONS OF A NEUTRAL 

This exhausted the patience of the American Government. 
On February 3d President Wilson directed that passports 
be given to the German Ambassador and that the American 
Ambassador be recalled from Berlin, thus severing diplo- 
matic relations between the two countries. This, as the 
President made clear in a convincing address to Congress, 
was in fulfilment of the warning which had been given, as 
hitherto quoted, in the Sussex case. A few days later 
Germany, through Switzerland as an intermediary, sought 
to parley over the matter, but the President declined to 
receive the overtures which were offered. 

ARMED NEUTRALITY 

The next step was that of armed neutrality. We were 
not at war with Germany, and it was still hoped by some 
that we should be able to avoid war. But Germany was 
putting into effect her threats of a resumption and intensifi- 
cation of the submarine campaign, and had sunk not only 
many British vessels but also two American vessels, the 
Housatonic and the Lyman M. Law. Accordingly on 
February 26th the President asked Congress for permission 
to supply defensive arms to merchant ships at his discretion. 

The German press, by permission of the imperial censor 
and thus presumably with the approval of the Imperial 
Government, printed conspicuous articles, declaring that the 
submarines would thereafter destroy all vessels found within 
the war zone, regardless of their character or nationality. 
In fulfilment of that threat the armed American merchant 
steamer Aztec was attacked and sunk. This was on April 
1st, off the French coast, near Brest. Eleven of the 
crew were reported lost. 

The next day, April 2d, the President asked Congress to 
declare war. 
222 



Chapter XVII 
FUTILE EFFORTS FOR PEACE 

Germany's Cynical Overtures — Their Rejection by the Allied Powers — Their 
Purposes Disclosed — President Wilson's Peace Note — His Conception of the 
Objects of the Belligerents — The Interests of the United States Involved — Seeking 
Acceptable Terms — Equivocal Acceptance by Germany — Rejection by the 
Allies — The President's Peace Message to the Senate — Proposing the Principles 
of the Monroe Doctrine for All the World. 

WE TRIED peace first. That fact must be remembered, 
and it will be weU to turn back a moment and recall the 
various overtures which were made for peace only a little 
while before Germany forced America into this monstrous 
war. Germany and her allies themselves suggested peace, 
in characteristic fashion. On December 12, 1916, they 
issued an identic note to the United States and other 
neutral powers, for transmission to the opposing belligerents, 
proposing a peace conference. They said: 

"The four allied powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, 
Bulgaria and Turkey) have been obliged to take up arms 
to defend justice and the liberty of national evolution. 
. . . The spiritual and material progress which were 
the pride of Europe are threatened with ruin. ... If, 
in spite of this offer of peace and reconciliation, the struggle 
should go on, the four allied powers are resolved to con- 
tinue to a victorious end, but they disclaim responsibility 
for this before humanity and history." 

REJECTED BY THE ALLIES 

This cynically insincere proposal, with its unblushing 
perversions of truth, was emphatically rejected by the 
Allies on December 30th. In their note of reply they said: 

223 



FUTILE EFFORTS FOR PEACE 

"The putting forward by the Imperial Government 
of a sham proposal lacking all substance and precision 
would appear to be less an offer of peace than a war 
manoeuvre. It is founded on calculated misinterpretation 
of the character of the struggle in the past, the present, 
and the future. '^ 

"As for the past, the German note takes no account 
of the facts, dates, and figures, which establish that the 
war was desired, provoked, and declared by Germany 
and Austria-Hungary. 

"At The Hague Conference it was a German delegate who 
refused all proposals for disarmament. In July, 1914, it was 
Austria-Hungary, who, after having addressed to Serbia an 
unprecedented ultimatum, declared war upon her in spite 
of the satisfaction which had at once been accorded. 

"The Central Empires then rejected all attempts made 
by the Entente to bring about a pacific solution of a purely 
local conflict. Great Britain suggested a conference; 
France proposed an international commission; the Emperor 
to go to arbitration, and Russia and Austria-Hungary 
came to an understanding on the eve of the conflict. But 
to all these efforts Germany gave neither answer nor effect. 

"Belgium was invaded by an empire which had 
guaranteed her neutrahty and which had the assurance 
to proclaim that treaties were 'scraps of paper,' and that 
'necessity knows no law.' . . . 

PURPOSE OF THE OVERTURES 

"In reahty these overtures made by the Central Powers 
are nothing more than a calculated attempt to influence 
the future course of war and to end it by imposing a German 
peace. The object of these overtures is to create dissen- 
sion in public opinion in the allied countries. But that 
224 



FUTILE EFFORTS FOR PEACE 

public opinion has, in spite of all the sacrifices endured by 
the Allies, already given its answer with admirable firm- 
ness, and has denounced the empty pretense of the 
declaration of the enemy powers. . . . 

''Finally, these overtures attempt to justify in advance 
in the eyes of the world a new series of crimes — submarine 
warfare, deportations, forced labor and forced enlistment 
of the inhabitants against their own countries, and violations 
of neutrality. 

"Fully conscious of the gravity of this moment, but 
equally conscious of its requirements, the allied govern- 
ments, closely united to one another and in perfect sym- 
pathy with their peoples, refuse to consider a proposal 
which is empty and insincere. 

"Once again the Allies declare that no peace is possible 
so long as they have not secured reparation for violated 
rights and Uberties, the recognition of the principle of 
nationality and of the free existence of small states, so 
long as they have not brought about a settlement cal- 
culated to end once and for all forces which have con- 
stituted a perpetual menace to the nations, and to afford 
the only effective guarantee for the future security of the 
world. ..." 

PRESIDENT Wilson's peace note 
At the very time when that German note was issued, 
President Wilson, in entire ignorance of it, had in prepara- 
tion a note addressed to all the belligerent powers, inviting 
them to make an exchange of declarations of purposes 
and of terms on which peace would be acceptable. This 
was issued by him on December 18th, with a brief explana- 
tion that it had absolutely no connection whatever with 
the German note which had been issued a few days before. 
16 225 



FUTILE EFFORTS FOR PEACE 

This note, signed by the Secretary of State, ran in part 
as follows: 

"The President suggests that an early occasion be sought 
to call out from all the nations now at war such an avowal 
of their respective views as to the terms upon which the 
war might be concluded, and the arrangements which would 
be deemed satisfactory as a guaranty against its renewal 
or the kindling of any similar conflict in the future as would 
make it possible frankly to compare them. He is indifferent 
as to the means taken to accomphsh this. He would be 
happy himself to serve, or even to take the initiative in its 
accomplishment, in any way that might prove acceptable, 
but he has no desire to determine the method or the instru- 
mentality. One way will be as acceptable to him as another, 
if only the great object he has in mind be attained. 

OBJECTS OF THE BELLIGERENTS 

"He takes the liberty of calling attention to the fact 
that the objects, which the statesmen of the belligerents 
on both sides have in mind in this war, are virtually the 
same, as stated in general terms to their own people and 
to the world. Each side desires to make the rights and 
privileges of weak peoples and small states as seciu-e 
against aggression or denial in the future as the rights 
and privileges of the great and powerful states now at war. 
Each wishes itself to be made secure in the future, along 
with all other nations and peoples, against the recurrence 
of wars Hke this and against aggression or selfish inter- 
ference of any kind. Each would be jealous of the forma- 
tion of any more rival leagues to preserve an uncertain 
balance of power amid multiplying suspicions; but each 
is ready to consider the formation of a league of nations 
to insure peace and justice throughout the world. 
226 



FUTILE EFFORTS FOR PEACE 

INTERESTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

''In the measures to be taken to secure the future peace 
of the world the people and Government of the United 
States are as vitally and as directly interested as the 
governments now at war. Their interest, moreover, in 
the means to be adopted to relieve the smaller and weaker 
peoples of the world of the peril of wrong and violence, 
is as quick and ardent as that of any other people or govern- 
ment. They stand ready, and even eager, to co-operate 
in the accompHshment of these ends, when the war is over, 
with every influence and resource at their command. 
But the war must first be concluded. The terms upon 
which it is to be concluded they are not at hberty to suggest ; 
but the President does feel that it is his right and his duty 
to point out their intimate interest in its conclusions, 
lest it should presently be too late to accomplish the greater 
things which lie beyond its conclusion, lest the situation 
of neutral nations, now exceedingly hard to endure, be 
rendered altogether intolerable, and lest, more than all, 
an injury be done civilization itseK which can never be 
atoned for or repaired. 

"The President therefore feels altogether justified in 
suggesting an immediate opportunity^ for a comparison 
of views as to the terms which must precede those ultimate 
arrangements for the peace of the world, which all desire 
and in which the neutral nations as well as those at war 
are ready to play their full responsible part. 

DEFINITE TERMS SOUGHT 

''The leaders of the several belligerents have, as has 
been said, stated those objects in general terms. But, 
stated in general terms, they seem the same on both sides. 
Never yet have the authoritative spokesmen of either 

227 



FUTILE EFFORTS FOR PEACE 

side avowed the precise objects which would, if attained, 
satisfy them and their people that the war had been fought 
out. The world has been left to conjecture what definitive 
results, what actual exchange of guaranties, what political 
or territorial changes or readjustments, what stage of 
military success, even, would bring the war to an end. 

PIOUS ASPIRATIONS 

"It may be that peace is nearer than we know; that the 
terms which the belligerents on the one side and on the 
other would deem it necessary to insist upon are not so 
irreconcilable as some have feared; that an interchange 
of views would clear the way at least for conference and 
make the permanent concord of the nations a hope of the 
immediate future, a concert of nations immediately 
practicable. 

'^The President is not proposing peace; he is not even 
offering mediation. He is merely proposing that soundings 
be taken in order that we may learn, the neutral nations 
with the belligerent, how near the haven of peace may 
be for which all mankind longs with an intense and increas- 
ing longing. He believes that the spirit in which he speaks 
and the objects which he seeks wiU be understood by all 
concerned, and he confidently hopes for a response which 
will bring a new Hght into the affairs of the world." 

Germany's equivocal acceptance 
Germany and her allies promptly replied to the Presi- 
dent's note with an apparent acceptance, so framed as to 
make it tantamount to a confirmation of the German 
proposals of December 12th. They made it clear that 
they would enter into the conference only on the basis 
which they had themselves already prescribed, and that 
228 



FUTILE EFFORTS FOR PEACE 

they would not consider in the peace negotiations any 
measures for the prevention of further wars of the same 
kind. The German note ran thus: 

"The high-minded suggestion made by the President 
of the United States of America in order to create a basis 
for the estabhshment of a lasting peace has been received 
and considered by the Imperial Government in the friendly 
spirit which was expressed in the President's communi- 
cation. 

''The President points out that which he has at heart 
and leaves open the choice of road. To the Imperial 
Government an immediate exchange of views seems to 
be the most appropriate road in order to reach the desired 
result. It begs, therefore, in the sense of the declaration 
made on December 12th, which offered a hand for peace 
negotiations, to propose an immediate meeting of dele- 
gates of the belligerent states at a neutral place. 

''The Imperial Government is also of the opinion that 
the great work of preventing future wars can be begun 
only after the end of the present struggle of the nations. 
It will, when this moment shall have come, be ready with 
pleasure to collaborate entirely with the United States 
in this exalted task.'* 

AN UNEQUIVOCAL REFUSAL 

The reply of the Allies was made on January 10th, 
and was much more elaborate and detailed than that of 
Germany. It expressed cordial appreciation of and sym- 
pathy with the benevolent motives of the American Govern- 
ment, but protested strongly against the assimilation 
established in the American note between the two groups 
of belligerents. It referred to the note of the Allies in 
response to the German peace note as a response also to 

229 



FUTILE EFFORTS FOR PEACE 

the President's inquiry concerning the terms of peace which 
would be satisfactory, and then continued: 

''President Wilson desires . . . that the belligerent 
powers openly affirm the objects which they seek by con- 
tinuing the war; the Allies experience no difficulty in 
replying to this request. Their objects in the war are 
well known* they have been formulated on many occa- 
sions by the chiefs of their divers governments. Their 
objects in the war will not be made known in detail with 
all the equitable compensations and indemnities for damages 
suffered until the hour of negotiations. But the civilized 
world knows that they imply in all necessity and in the 
first instance the restoration of Belgium, of Serbia, and of 
Montenegro and the indemnities which are due them; 
the evacuation of the invaded territories of France, of 
Russia and of Roumania with just reparation; the reorgan- 
ization of Europe guaranteed by a stable regime and founded 
as much upon respect of nationalities and full security and 
Hberty of economic development, which all nations, great 
or small, possess, as upon territorial conventions and 
international agreements suitable to guarantee territorial 
and maritime frontiers against unjustified attacks; the 
restitution of provinces or territories wrested in the past 
from the Allies by force or against the will of their popula- 
tions; the liberation of Italians, of Slavs, of Roumanians 
and of Tcheco Slovaques from foreign domination; the 
enfranchisement of populations subject to the bloody 
tyranny of the Turks; the expulsion from Europe of the 
Ottoman Empire. The intentions of His Majesty the 
Emperor of Russia regarding Poland have been clearly 
indicated in the proclamation which he has just addressed 
to his armies. It goes without saying that if the Allies 
wish to liberate Europe from the brutal covetousness of 
230 



FUTILE EFFORTS FOR PEACE 



Prussian militarism, it never has been their design, as has 
been alleged, to encompass the extermination of the German 
peoples and their political disappearance. That which 
they desire above all is to insure a peace upon the principles 
of hberty and justice, upon the inviolable fidelity to inter- 
national obligation with which the Government of the 
United States has never ceased to be inspired. 

"United in the pursuits of this supreme object the Allies 
are determined, individually and collectively, to act with 
all their power and to consent to all sacrifices to bring to a 
victorious close a conflict upon which they are convinced 
not only their own safety and prosperity depends but 
also the future of civilization itself." 

THE president's PEACE MESSAGE 

Following this, on January 22, 1917, President Wilson 
addressed the United States Senate on the subject, not 
with a request for action but in explanation of his policy, 
and thus ended the discussion of peace, which was already 
obviously futile. In his address he reviewed the notes of 
the belligerents, insisted that when peace was finally made 
the United States must have a part in the work, and 
indicated what must be the general tenor of the peace terms 
to be satisfactory to this country; saying in conclusion: 

"In holding out the expectation that the people and the 
Government of the United States will join the other 
civihzed nations of the world in guaranteeing the perma- 
nence of peace upon such terms as I have named, I speak 
with the greater boldness and confidence because it is 
clear to every man who can think that there is in this 
promise no breach in either our traditions or our policy 
as a nation, but a fulfillment rather of all that we have 
professed or striven for. 

231 



FUTILE EFFORTS FOR PEACE 

A MONROE DOCTRINE FOR ALL NATIONS 

"I am proposing, as it were, that the nations should 
with one accord adopt the doctrine of President Monroe 
as the doctrine of the world: That no nation should seek 
to extend its policy over any other nation or people, but 
that every people should be left free to determine its 
own policy, its own way of development, unhindered, 
unthreatened, unafraid, the little along with the great 
and powerful. 

"I am proposing that all nations henceforth avoid 
entangling alliances which would draw them into competi- 
tion of power, catch them in a net of intrigue and selfish 
rivalry, and disturb their own affairs with influences intruded 
from without. There is no entangling alliance in a concert 
of power. When all unite to act in the same sense and 
with the same purpose, all act in the common interest 
and are free to live their own lives under a common pro- 
tection. 

"I am proposing government by the consent of the 
governed; that freedom of the seas which in international 
conference after conference representatives of the United 
States have urged with the eloquence of those who are 
the convinced disciples of hberty; and that moderation 
of armaments which makes of armies and navies a power 
for order merely, not an instrument of aggression or of 
selfish violence. 

"These are American principles, American policies. 
We can stand for no others. And they are also the principles 
and policies of forward-looking men and women everywhere, 
of every modern nation, of every enlightened community. 
They are the principles of mankind and must prevail," 



232 



Chapter XVIII 
AMERICA AS A BELLIGERENT 

Our Tardy Entrance Into the World War — Our Declaration the Thirty- 
sixth in Less than Thirty-three Months — How It Was Made and How Others 
Had Been Made — Our Lack of Readiness — Neglect of the Policy of Washington 
and Jefferson — The Evil Results of Our Unpreparedness in Former Wars — The 
Disgrace of the War of 1812 — Lessons Which We Refused to Learn — State of 
Our Forces on Land and Sea When War with Germany Was Declared — Vigorous 
Endeavors of Government and People to Atone for Years of Neglect and Folly — 
The Opposition of So-called Pacifists — Different Sentiments of Different Sections 
of the Country — Slowness in Realizing the Actual Situation and Its Needs — 
Final Uprising of the Nation. 

AMERICA'S entrance into the War of the Nations was 
tardy and dehberate. We have seen how numerous, 
persistent and extreme had been her provocations, during 
more than two and a half years. Yet she waited until 
nearly every great nation in the Eastern Hemisphere was 
involved, and indeed until some of her neighbors in this 
hemisphere were beginning to consider participation in 
it. Our declaration of war with Germany, made on 
April 6, 1917, was the thirty-sixth that had been made 
in this war since Austria's breach with Serbia on July 28, 
1914 — a period of less than thirty-three months. 

It will be interesting, as a matter of reference and 
record, to recapitulate the various declarations which had 
been made; bearing in mind that in some cases nations 
against which war was declared did not respond with 
counter-declarations. For example, Germany declared 
war against France on August 3, 1914; but France has 
never yet made any declaration against Germany. Her 

233 



AMERICA AS A BELLIGERENT 

only answer to the German declaration was, to fight. 
The following is a list of the various declarations down to 
and including our own: 



1914 



July 
Aug. 



28 — Austria on Serbia. 
1 — Germany on Russia. 
3 — Germany on France. 
3 — Germany on Belgium. 
4 — Great Britain on Germany. 
5 — Austria-Hungary on Russia. 
8 — Montenegro on Austria. 
9 — Austria on Montenegro. 
9 — Serbia on Germany. 



May 22 — Italy on Austria. 
" 22— Italy on Turkey. 
June 3 — San Marino on Austria. 
Oct. 14 — Serbia on Bulgaria. 



Aug. 11 — France on Austria-Hungary. 

" 11 — Montenegro on Germany. 

" 12 — Great Britain on Austria. 

" 23 — Japan on Germany. 

" 25 — Austria on Japan. 

" 29 — Austria on Belgium. 
Nov. 2 — Russia on Turkey. 

" 5 — Great Britain on Turkey. 

" 5 — France on Turkey. 



1915 



Oct. 15 — Great Britain on Bulgaria. 

" 16 — France on Bulgaria. 

" 19 — Italy on Bulgaria. 

" 19 — Russia on Bulgaria. 



1916 



Mar. 



8 — Germany on Portugal. 
" 10 — Portugal on Germany. 
" 15 — Austria on Portugal. 
Aug. 27 — Roumania on Austria. 

" 28 — Austria-Hungary on Roumania. 



Aug. 



28 — Bulgaria on Roumania. 
28 — Turkey on Roumania. 
28 — Germany on Roumania. 
28 — Italy on Germany. 



1917 



Apr. 6 — United States on Germany. 



FORMS OF DECLARATIONS OF WAP 

In finally making our declaration of war against Germany, 
we might well have adopted the words of Shakespeare 
and said, ''Stand not upon the order of declaring, but 
declare." There was much discussion and there were 
many differences of opinion as to the order, or the form; 
whether we should ''declare war" or should merely declare 
that "a state of war existed." There was thought to be 
much and important difference between the two, as though 
the former would impose far more responsibility upon 
234 



AMERICA AS A BELLIGERENT 

us than the latter. The former seemed to be looked upon 
as an announcement that we should begin war against 
Germany, while the latter was merely a recognition of 
the fact that Germany had begun to wage war against 
us. 

The fact is, however, that between the two there was 
and is scarcely as much as between tweedledum and 
tweedledee. The two phrases are" practically synonymous. 
To declare does not mean to wage war or to announce 
an intention of doing so. It means nothing more than to 
state, to announce, to publish, to make clear, an already 
existing fact. Our phrase, as finally adopted by Congress, 
was that a state of war ''is hereby declared." That did 
not mean at all that we purposed to create a state of war. 
It meant that we recognize the fact that one already existed, 
and the preceding context made it abundantly clear that 
it was Germany that created that state of war and thrust 
it upon us; which was, of course, precisely correct and 
the very thing that we ought to have said. The uncer- 
tainty and difference of opinion beforehand, and the mis- 
interpretation which some have since put upon the act, 
simply show how much misapprehension of the meaning 
of the phrase there is among intelligent men. To have 
made it read ''is hereby declared to exist," as some have 
been saying should have been done, would not have changed 
the meaning one iota. The added words would have been 
simply superfluous. 

UNREADY FOR WAR 

Seldom, if ever, has any nation made a declaration of 
war in a greater state of unreadiness for war than the 
United States was in when it finally joined issues with 
Germany. For more than a century the policy of Wash- 

235 



AMERICA AS A BELLIGERENT 

ington and Jefferson, the traditional policy of this nation, 
had been neglected and ignored. For several years there 
had been much discussion and agitation of the matter, 
but little had been done. The nation was bewitched by 
the siren song of pacifism into believing, first, that there 
was no danger of our ever getting into war with a great 
power, and second, that if we did we should show ourselves 
able to "lick all creation." 

Our army, unsurpassed in character, was a mere handful 
in size. Our organized mihtia, also pitifully small in 
numbers, was disorganized and demoralized by the fatuous 
manner in which it had been mismanaged in our campaign 
against Mexico. Our navy, superb as its units were, 
was lacking in submarines and battle cruisers, and was so 
undermanned that half the battleships were laid up for 
lack of crews. We had scarcely any aviation service, 
and our supplies of artillery, rifles and ammunition were 
wofully inadequate. 

THE COST OF UNPREPAREDNESS 

In all this we were blind to the lessons of history. Wash- 
ington in the Revolution dwelt frequently and bitterly 
upon the murderous folly of arraying raw recruits against 
trained soldiers, and urged thorough training and universal 
service. In the War of 1812 we had been unprepared and 
had trusted to green militia, with the result that our land 
forces were usually beaten and our national capital was 
abandoned to the foe. In the Civil War it took us two 
years to get ready to fight. In the Spanish War our unpre- 
paredness and the mismanagement of our camps and 
commissary formed a national scandal. Yet we ignored 
these lessons of history, and for more than two years faced 
a world in flames of war, with a gi^owing assurance that 
236 



> 



re o 



p 5. 






o p 



£-b 



S3 

W 
o 
o 



? 5- 



re •jal ^ 

i-t, p— ' " 

o re 2? 

ore 



P t- 



2 ^ 
9. W 





United States Infantry Tools 




Bombs to be Dropped from Aircraft 



AMERICA AS A BELLIGERENT 

we ourselves would be involved in it, without making any 
real preparations to meet the tremendous crisis. 

EFFORTS AT PREPARATION 

The moment war was declared, however, Congress began 
with frantic haste to atone so far as possible for the delay. 
Vast sums were voted for expansion and equipment of 
the army and navy, and a large increase of forces was 
authorized. A small band of pacifists opposed these 
measures, but their opposition was speedily overridden. 
At first public sentiment on the subject was supposed to 
vary greatly in different parts of the country, the Middle 
West being least disposed toward war, and some states, 
in which German residents were numerous, being reputedly 
strongly opposed to it. Day by day, however, brought 
the nation into harmony, until all sections were rallying 
to the support of the government. 

The authorized increase of the army and navy was at 
first sought through the familiar system of volunteer 
enlistment. But this dragged, and it became evident 
that more strenuous methods must be employed. The 
President finally declared himself in favor of compulsory 
service, through a system of selective conscription, and 
a bill to that effect was introduced into Congress. Oppo- 
sition to it was noisy but otherwise feeble, and at the 
middle of May the necessary legislation was enacted. The 
nation was awake and rising to meet the crisis. 



237 



Chapter XIX 
OUR RESOURCES: ACTUAL AND POTENTIAL 

Our Population and Wealth, and Production of Bread and Iron, Compared 
with the Other Great Powers — Our Financial Resources — Size of the Army and 
Navy Before the War — The Organized MiUtia — Submarines and Airships Amer- 
ican Inventions — Agricultural Resources and How They Might be Quadrupled — 
Our Commercial Marine — Deplorable Lack of Ocean-going Tonnage — Compar- 
isons with Other Countries — Urgent Need of an Increase of the Mercantile Marine. 

VAST ARE the resources of America. At the time of her 
entry into the war, thirteen other nations were already 
involved in it. They included the six so-called Great 
Powers of Europe. But save for the population of two of 
them, the United States decisively outranked them all in 
the chief elements of material greatness. Apart from 
population the three chief elements of greatness are wealth, 
wheat and iron. The first means the aggregate wealth of 
the real and personal property of all the people of the 
nation. In that particular, the United States surpasses 
any two other nations in the world, put together. The 
second, wheat, is the most important article of food in 
civilized lands, and the production of it is an essential 
factor in the nation's economic independence. The 
third, iron, is the most important of all the metals, and 
the production of it is a gauge of the nation's industrial 
potency. 

The following tables show, in round numbers, the popu- 
lation and wealth, and the wheat and iron production, of 
the chief belligerents, according to the latest available 
statistics : 
238 



OUR RESOURCES 



Countries. Population. Wealth. 

United States 103,287,000 $230,000,000,000 

British Empire 438,000,000 130,000,000,000 

Russian Empire 175,000,000 60,000,000,000 

France (omitting colonies) . . 40,000,000 65,000,000,000 

Italy (omitting colonies) . . . 36,000,000 35,000,000,000 

Germany 68,000,000 80,000,000,000 

Austria-Hungary 53,000,000 45,000,000,000 

Countries. Wheat, Bushels. Iron, Tons. 

United States 1,000,000,000 36,500,000 

British Empire 813,250,000 18,000,000 

Russia 840,000,000 4,150,000 

France 258,000,000 3,500,000 

Italy 170,500,000 380,000 

Germany 160,000,000 14,160,000 

Austria-Hungary 212,900,000 1,500,000 

AMERICAN FINANCIAL RESOURCES 

The financial ability of the United States to pay the 
expenses of the war for itself, and to assist its allies, may be 
estimated from the following statistics: 

Annual national income $50,000,000,000 

Total bank resources 35,000,000,000 

Individual deposits 24,000,000,000 

Cash held by the banks 2,500,000,000 

Total gold stock in the country 3,000,000,000 

Available additional commercial credits on 

basis of present cash holdings 6,000,000,000 

It is estimated that the borrowing power of the American 
Government is not less than $40,000,000,000, from domestic 
sources, without seriously disturbing the ordinary financial 
and economical affairs of the nation. 

239 



OUR RESOURCES 



THE ARMY AND NAVY 

The figures already given of population and wealth 
suggest the colossal potency of the United States in war. 
But at the outbreak of the present war that potency was 
undeveloped, and the actual army and navy strength of the 
nation was small. The following table indicates the actual 
strength of the army estabhshment at the end of the last 
fiscal year, June 30, 1916: 

Organizationa. Officers. Men. 

General Officers 24 

General Staff Corps 32 

Adjutant General's Department 23 

Inspector General's Department 17 

Judge Advocate General's Department — 13 

Quartermaster Corps 258 5,492 

Medical Corps 443 4,670 

Medical Reserve Corps 154 .... 

Dental Surgeons 38 .... 

Corps of Engineers 228 1,826 

Ordnance Department 83 740 

Signal Corps 71 1,472 

Bureau of Insular Affairs 3 .... 

Chaplains 64 .... 

Professors 7 .... 

Total 1,458 14,200 

Cavalry, 15 regiments, etc 782 15,160 

Artillery, 6 regiments, etc 257 5,627 

Infantry, 31 regiments, etc 1,607 34,313 

West Point detachments 603 

Indian Scouts 39 

Casuals and recruits at depots and en route .... 8,798 

Total 9,440 

Total, Regular Army 4,843 97,013 

Philippine Scouts 182 5,603 



Grand total 5,025 102,616 



240 




Before — and 

A gr'oiiii of young men when they enlisted in the Navy. They show lack of trim- 

ness, carriage and determination. 




Photographs by Underwood and Underwood, N. Y. 

After Enlisting 

Ten days later the same young men look remarkably different. They now carry 

themselves like true representatives of the Navy. 



BI g-^*^^ 




OUR RESOURCES 



THE NAVY 

The actual strength of the navy in October, 1916, was 
3,761 officers and 54,214 men, a total of 57,975. In the 
Marine Corps there were 410 officers and 11,044 men, a 
total of 11,454. 

According to the United States ''Navy Year Book" for 
1916, there were at its date of publication the following 
vessels in the navy listed as fit for service: 

Type. No. Displacement. 

Dreadnoughts 12 307,450 

Predreadnoughts 25 340,146 

Armored cruisers 10 140,080 

Cruisers, first class 5 46,465 

Cruisers, second class 4 25,065 

Cruisers, third class 16 50,820 

Monitors 7 24,964 

Destroyers 49 43,585 

Coast torpedo vessels 16 6,695 

Torpedo boats 17 3,146 

Submarines 42 15,722 

Tenders 8 31,927 

Gunboats 28 25,967 

Transports 4 22,235 

Supply ships 4 25,400 

Hospital ship 1 5,700 

Fuel ships 21 253,900 

Naval yachts 14 8,957 

Tugs 47 19,568 

Special types 8 45,954 

Total 338 1,444,746 

ADDITIONS TO BE MADE 

The following vessels were listed as under construc- 
tion: 

16 241 



OUR RESOURCES 



Type. No. Displacement. 

Dreadnoughts 5 160,600 

Destroyers 9 9,911 

Submarines 33 21,093 

Gunboat 1 1,575 

Transport 1 10,000 

Supply ship 1 8,500 

Hospital ship 1 9,800 

Fuel ships 2 29,000 

Tugs 2 1,150 



Total 55 251,269 

And these were provided for and contracted for: 

Type. No. Displacement. 

Dreadnoughts 4 130,400 

Battle cruisers 4 137,200 

Second-class cruisers 4 28,400 

Destroyers 20 23,700 

Submarines 30 22,590 

Special type 1 10,600 

Total 63 354,800 



THE NAVY IN PROSPECT 

There was thus in being and in assured prospect for the 
immediate future the following naval force: 

Type. No. Displacement. 

Dreadnoughts 21 598,450 

Predreadnoughts 25 340,146 

Battle cruisers 4 139,200 

Armored cruisers 10 140,080 

Cruisers, first class 5 46,465 

Cruisers, second class 8 63,465 

Cruisers, third class 16 60,820 

Monitors 7 24,964 

242 



OUR RESOURCES 



Type. No. Displacement. 

Destroyers 78 77,196 

Coast destroyers 16 6,695 

Torpedo boats 17 3,146 

Submarines 105 54,455 

Tenders 8 31,927 

Gunboats 29 27,512 

Transports 5 32,225 

Supply ships 5 33,000 

Hospital ships 2 15,500 

Fuel ships 23 282,230 

Naval yachts 14 8,957 

Tugs 49 20,718 

Special type 9 56,504 



Total 456 2,050,265 



THE ORGANIZED MILITIA 

The organized militia, commonly known as the National 
Guard, was of the following strength in 1916: 

States. Officers. Men. 

Alabama 166 2,391 

Arizona 54 866 

Arkansas 81 834 

California 245 3,218 

Colorado 58 770 

Connecticut 227 3,476 

Delaware 35 426 

District of Columbia 94 1,741 

Florida 85 1,181 

Georgia 225 2,859 

Hawaii 93 2,548 

Idaho 63 901 

Illinois 500 6,099 

Indiana 150 2,411 

Iowa 218 3,182 

243 



OUR RESOURCES 



states. Officers. Men. 

Kansas 127 1,925 

Kentucky 170 2,252 

Louisiana 63 1,119 

Maine Ill 1,428 

Maryland 168 2,024 

Massachusetts 418 6,600 

Michigan 220 3,430 

Minnesota 210 2,889 

Mississippi 71 1,085 

Missouri 207 3,746 

Montana 50 734 

Nebraska 110 1,507 

Nevada 

New Hampshire 83 1,175 

New Jersey 301 4,021 

New Mexico 67 867 

New York 1,014 15,309 

North Carolina 208 2,846 

North Dakota 55 735 

Ohio 492 5,916 

Oklahoma ,. 70 966 

Oregon 96 1,595 

Pennsylvania 701 9,450 

Rhode Island 90 1,527 

South Carolina 102 1,424 

South Dakota 65 857 

Tennessee 113 1,634 

Texas 185 2,720 

Utah 32 546 

Vermont 76 878 

Virginia 197 2,808 

Washington 90 1,358 

West Virginia 106 1,505 

Wisconsin 192 3,247 

Wyoming 35 579 



Total 8,589 123,605 



244 



OUR RESOURCES 



SUBMARINES AND AIRSHIPS 

Our military services were insufficiently supplied with 
submarine boats and with aeroplanes; which was an irony 
of fate, seeing that both those devices were chiefly of 
American origin. The submarine dates back to Robert 
Fulton, who years before he initiated steam navigation with 
the Clermont made successful trips under the waters of the 
British Channel in a hand-propelled submarine. For 
many years his achievements in that direction were all but 
forgotten. But the general idea was taken up in our own 
time by two other Americans, Simon Lake and John P. 
Holland, and from their inventive genius proceeded the 
development of the submarine fleets which have so largely 
transformed the naval warfare of the world. So, too, 
Langley and the Wright brothers, Americans, were pioneers 
in the development of aeroplanes, or ''heavier than air" 
flying machines. 

AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES 

Some mention has already been made of America's 
production of wheat, the most important of all foodstuffs. 
This country annually produces more than 3,000,000,000 
bushels of corn, 1,000,000,000 bushels of wheat (in 1915, the 
record year), 1,500,000,000 bushels of oats, 225,000,000 
bushels of barley, 35,000,000 bushels of rye, 20,000,000 
bushels of buckwheat, 400,000,000 bushels of potatoes, 
75,000,000 tons of hay, 28,000,000 bushels of flaxseed, 
7,500,000,000 pounds of cotton, 1,000,000,000 pounds of 
tobacco, 1,900,000 long tons of sugar, and 300,000,000 
pounds of wool. It has 65,000,000 swine, 65,000,000 head 
of cattle, 25,000,000 horses and mules, and 60,000,000 
sheep. It produces more than 500,000,000 tons of coal, 
1,000,000,000 pounds of copper, and 225,000,000 barrels 

245 



OUR RESOURCES 



of petroleum a year. It has 268,000 manufacturing estab- 
lishments with a yearly output worth $20,000,000,000. Its 
farm products are worth more than $10,500,000,000 a year. 
Vast as are these resources, however, they are small by 
the side of what they might be. Even in the completely 
settled and cultivated states, scarcely fifty per cent of the 
available agricultural land is actually under cultivation, 
while that which is cultivated is not made to produce more 
than one-half as much as it should. Thus the average 
yield of wheat is from 15 to 17 bushels to the acre, while 
in some European countries it is 33 bushels; and the 
average yield of potatoes seldom reaches 100 bushels, while 
in Germany it is considerably more than 200 bushels to 
the acre. Double the cultivated area, and double the acre 
yield, and the enormous figures given above would be 
quadrupled. 

OUR COMMERCIAL MARINE 

One of the weakest points in our resourcefulness at the 
beginning of the war was that of the commercial marine. 
Enormous as was our foreign trade, it was chiefly conducted 
in foreign vessels under foreign flags. We have at New 
York the greatest seaport of the world, reckoned in the 
value of its trade, while in the year before the war the 
second was German, the third and fourth English, and the 
fifth Belgian: 

New York $1,966,256,617 

Hamburg 1,960,779,855 

London 1,866,930,782 

Liverpool 1,816,983,279 

Antwerp 1,214,725,495 

These were the five first-class ports. No other in the 
world reached the billion-dollar mark. Now let us see 
246 



OUR RESOURCES 



what were our imports from and our exports to the principal 
countries involved in this war: 

Imports. Exports. 

Austria-Hungary $12,969,000 $70,761,000 

Belgium 20,010,000 79,869,000 

France 83,346,000 172,221,000 

Germany 166,626,000 377,464,000 

Italy 50,554,000 99,462,000 

Netherlands 54,478,000 145,525,000 

Russia 9,274,000 45,026,000 

United Kingdom 147,180,000 655,005,000 



OUR LACK OF TONNAGE 

The total tonnage of American shipping was indeed 
large; perhaps the second largest in the world. But the 
major part of it was on the Great Lakes and in purely 
coastwise traffic. In foreign trade our total steam tonnage 
was pitifully small in comparison with that of other coun- 
tries. Thus : 

Tons. 

United States 667,896 

United Kingdom 19,202,770 

Germany 4,380,348 

Russia 790,075 

Austria-Hungary 777,729 

Denmark 671,000 

Holland 983,049 

France 1,500,000 

Italy 987,559 

Japan 1,146,977 

Norway 1,422,006 

Sweden 782,508 

Spain 746,748 

247 



OUR RESOURCES 



The natural consequence of these conditions was seen in 
the small figure which American vessels presented in the 
commerce of our own ports. In 1913 the total clearances 
of American steam vessels in foreign trade from our own 
seaports were 4,520,697 and of foreign vessels 31,221,160. 
The clearances of shipping from our ports under the flags 
of the actual and potential belligerents in the present war 
were as follows: 

Tons. 

Austro-Hungarian 427,246 

Belgian 356,231 

British 19,359,581 

French 1,033,931 

German 4,587,050 

Italian 802,103 

Russian 129,635 

THE GREAT SHIPPING COMPANIES 

A list of the great shipping companies of the world, just 
before the war, arranged in the order of total tonnage, 
showed that by far the largest was a German line, while 
another German line was easily second and the next four 
were British. 

One of the earliest results of the war in 1914 was to 
stimulate the increase of American merchant shipping, to 
do the neutral carrying trade of the world, and the implica- 
tion of this country in the war is certain still further to 
promote the same movement, for the supplying of our 
allies across the sea with the necessaries of existence and for 
replacing the vast amount of their tonnage which the 
German submarine campaign has destroyed. 



248 



Chapter XX 
OUR MILITARY GEOGRAPHY 

Our "Isolated Position" Less Marked than of Old — All the World Now Within 
Reach — Two Ahen Frontiers — One Marked with a Century of Peace — The 
Troublous Mexican Frontier — Our Extended Frontage on Two Oceans — Fortu- 
nate Formation of the Atlantic Littoral for Defense — PossibiUties of an Inland 
Coastal Waterway, Valuable in Peace, Invaluable in War — Utility of the Panama 
Canal and Need of Its Defense — American Interest in the Gulf and Caribbean. 

IN THE early days of the republic we enjoyed, geograph- 
ically, a '^splendid isolation." The oceans formed prac- 
tically insuperable barriers against serious invasion. When 
we got rid of France and Spain as neighbors by taking 
Louisiana and Florida for our own, there were left abutting 
upon us the territories of only one important power, and 
in 1815 we established with it a peace which has ever since 
remained unbroken; a peace in the perpetuity of which we 
had so much confidence that we agreed to leave the frontier 
between us and that power entirely unfortified. 

Modern inventions, however, have destroyed our isola- 
tion, and all the world is now within reach and within 
striking distance of us. The Atlantic Ocean is now scarcely 
more of a barrier than was the Hudson or the Delaware 
River in Washington's time. Our efficiency on the sea 
and our military preparedness on the land, must now be 
depended upon to protect us from foreign invasion. 

TWO LAND FRONTIERS 

There will probably never be occasion for anxiety con- 
cerning the longer and more important of our two land 

249 



OUR MILITARY GEOGRAPHY 

frontiers. The peace which has been unbroken for more 
than a centur}' is now being mightily confirmed by the 
union of the two nations in war against a common foe. 
At the southwest, however, the prospect is not so reassuring. 
Alread}^ twice in our history we have crossed the ^lexican 
border with force and arms, and the unliappy condition of 
that country provokes a fear that other troubles may here- 
after occur in that same region. It cannot be said, however, 
that there is any grave menace there to the integrity of this 
republic. It is true that during the present war, while 
stiU our relations 'vsith her were friendl}', Germany plotted 
to use Mexico as a channel for invasion of the United States, 
for purposes of conquest and the partitioning of our terri- 
tory. It does not appear, however, that an}- serious 
Mexican statesman gave the ^'icious intrigue encourage- 
ment, and we may probably feel assured that none is 
likely to do so. An attack upon the United States from 
that direction would be of all most difficult for the invader 
to prosecute. 

OUR GREAT COAST LINE 

It is rather to our enormously extended coast line 
that we are to look as the potential scene of attack, 
and therefore as the region to which most defensive 
attention is to be given. Apart from Alaska and our 
insular possessions, we have a coast line of thousands 
of miles, on the Atlantic and Gulf, and on the Pacific, 
and along it or close to it are seated some of our most 
important cities. 

The defense of these cities and of the entire coast line 
against attack or the landing of an army of invasion must be 
threefold. The first line of defense is, of course, the navj^, 
which should be sufficiently strong to render it impossible 
250 



OUR MILITARY GEOGRAPHY 

for an enemy to land an army at any point, or to attack one 
of the coast cities. For efficiency in that respect, the navy 
needs a good supply of submarine boats, and also a supply 
of aeroplanes for scouting purposes — to Itvatch for and 
report the approach of an enemy's fleet. Next there must 
be an adequate system of coast fortifications around all 
important coast cities and at the entrances of navigable 
rivers and bays. Finally, there must be an army of ample 
force, so mobile that it can speedily be massed at any 
point, to prevent the landing of a hostile army. 

nature's provision for defense 
It is an interesting and most gratifying circumstance 
that the most important and most exposed portion of our 
coast, the Atlantic frontage, has been provided by nature 
with exceptional advantages for defense, needing only a 
little human co-operation to make them available. The 
reference is, of course, to the actual and potential system 
of inland coastal waterways extending from New England 
to the Gulf. It is a system which, if put into full use, 
would be of inestimable service in time of peace as a high- 
way of travel and transportation, and which in time of war 
would be literally invaluable, since it would provide an 
intracoastal course of navigation well sheltered and secure 
from alien attack, and at the same time a means of shifting 
our coast defense and submarine fleet from point to point 
in both security and secrecy. The Panama Canal is 
prized because it will enable us to transfer a fleet swiftly 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, or vice versa. This intra- 
coastal waterway would enable us to keep our fleets of 
torpedo boats, destroyers and submarines lying secure in 
sheltered waters and ready to issue forth for action from 
any of a multitude of inlets along the coast. 

251 



OUR MILITARY GEOGRAPHY 

THE INTRACOASTAL HIGHWAY 

Boston is generally accepted as the northern and eastern 
terminal of the highway. Beyond that point the coast 
does not, save in a few places, readily lend itself to inland 
navigation. But Boston is the last important port in that 
direction. It is in value of its commerce the second port 
of the United States. It is the point where the intracoastal 
waterway most directly emerges upon the high seas, and 
where it is nearest to Europe. It is also a point where an 
exceptional number of great trunk railroad systems con- 
verge upon tidewater. For these reasons it will most 
appropriately constitute the upper terminal and perhaps 
on the whole the most important center of traffic of the 
whole coast system. 

Boston is now connected with the intracoastal route by 
way of the Cape Cod Canal. That is beyond doubt a most 
useful passage, and will always enjoy an extensive patron- 
age. It is not, however, suited to the chief purposes of the 
intracoastal waterway. Its principal utility is for ocean- 
going craft. Between it and Boston lies the broad stretch 
of Cape Cod Bay, almost a part of the high seas and not 
well adapted to navigation by the barges and other vessels 
which will throng the intracoastal route. For vessels which 
have hitherto gone from Boston to New York or southward 
around Cape Cod, and for those coming down from Portland 
and other points above Boston, to ports below the latter, 
it should always be of much value. But for the purposes 
of canal and other inland navigation there is needed a most 
sheltered route from Boston Harbor to Long Island Sound. 
This will be provided by the contemplated canal from 
Quincy or Weymouth to Fall River, supplemented by 
another through Rhode Island, from Narragansett Bay 
through Point Judith Pond and the other lagoons to Watch 
252 



OUR MILITARY GEOGRAPHY 

Hill and Fisher's Island Sound. From the latter water 
the route is direct, down Long Island Sound to New York. 

AT THE METROPOLIS 

There are, however, plans for an alternative route which 
would possess great advantages for both commercial and 
military purposes. That is, to cross from Fisher's Island 
Sound to Gardiner's Bay and Peconic Bay, and thence by 
a short canal across the sand plains to the great chain of 
lagoons along the southern edge of Long Island, including 
the Great South Bay and Jamaica Bay, the last-named 
water giving a superb frontage in the metropolitan borough 
of Brooklyn. Thence passing back of Coney Island the 
waterway would reach New York Bay at Gravesend; 
from which point it could proceed to the Raritan River and 
trans-Jersey canal either by way of the Lower Bay or by 
way of the Kill van KuU, Newark Bay and Staten Island 
Sound. The latter route would doubtless be followed by 
all vessels which desired to be in touch with the trunk rail- 
road lines, and very largely by all which came by way of 
Long Island Sound and the East River. It would take 
them directly to the doors of Newark and Elizabeth, and 
past the immense industrial and commercial establishments 
which will soon cover the Newark and Elizabeth meadows 
and will make those hitherto neglected regions one of the 
chief centers of business activity in the United States. 

FROM THE DELAWARE SOUTHWARD 

The remainder of the route is pretty well determined. 
A notably easy canal route has been surveyed across New 
Jersey, from Raritan Bay to the Delaware River and 
Philadelphia, whence improvement of the Delaware and 
Chesapeake Canal will carry it to Chesapeake Bay with 

253 



OUR MILITARY GEOGRAPHY 



access to Baltimore and Washington. From the neighbor- 
hood of Norfolk a canal will traverse the Dismal Swamp 
region to the Pasquotank River, or else will go directly from 
the Chesapeake and the James River to the head of Curri- 
tuck Sound. In either case 



the route thence would be by 
way of Albemarle, Croatan, 
Pamlico, Core and Back 
sounds, to Beaufort, N. C. 
There is already a channel 
along which small vessels can 
thus pass from the Chesa- 
peake to Beaufort inland, 
avoiding the terrors of Hat- 
teras and Cape Lookout. In- 
deed, they may proceed about 
thirty miles further, along 
Bogue Sound to Bogue Inlet, 
at the mouth of White Oak 
River, where, however, there 
are no port facilities. 

Here, however, the inland 
thoroughfare now ends, and 
vessels must take to the open 
Atlantic to proceed to Wil- 
mington, N. C, to Charles- 
ton, S. C, to Savannah, and 
other Southern ports. Obviously, that fact enormously 
impairs the value of the whole route. It makes it a water- 
way from Massachusetts Bay merely to Onslow Bay, on 
the North Carolina coast, instead of to the Gulf of Mexico, 
and it leaves Wilmington and the traffic of the Cape Fear 
River, Georgetown and the Great Pedee River, Charleston, 
254 



The Waterway? 

TO 

BALriMORE& 
WA.SHIKGIOU 




OUR MILITARY GEOGRAPHY 

Savannah and Brunswick all cut off from inland connection 
with the North. Moreover, while torpedo boats and sub- 
marines may now pass inland from Norfolk to Beaufort, 
they cannot get from the latter port to Charleston, the 
chief naval station south of the Chesapeake, without 
navigating the open ocean for nearly two hundred and 
fifty miles along a dangerous coast. 

FROM THE CAROLINAS TO TEXAS 

To fill this gap with a suitable waterway would not be a 
formidable task. From Beaufort to Cape Fear, nearly 
half the distance, natural thoroughfares exist which need 
nothing but deepening and connecting with short stretches 
of canal. From Cape Fear to the confluence of the Wacca- 
maw and Great Pedee rivers, in South Carolina, would 
be the hardest part of the undertaking, but army engineers 
have estimated that a canal could be constructed between 
those points for only $3,000,000. Then from Winyah Bay, 
at the mouth of the Great Pedee, to Charleston, to Savan- 
nah, to Brunswick, to Fernandina, to Jacksonville and so 
on to Key West, nature has provided passages which 
need nothing but a little improvement. From the St. 
John's River across upper Florida a canal may readily be 
constructed giving access to the Gulf near or at Apalachee 
Bay, whence St. George's Sound, Choctawatchee Bay and 
other coastal waters give natural passage to Pensacola, to 
Mobile Bay, to Mississippi Bay and to New Orleans; 
while from the latter city nature has provided an inland 
thoroughfare along almost the entire Louisianian and 
Texan coast, to Galveston and thence to the Rio Grande. 

THE VALUE OF THE SCHEME 

The value of such a waterway, from Boston Harbor to 
the Rio Grande, is to be estimated from two points of 

255 



OUR MILITARY GEOGRAPHY 

view. One is the commercial. In connection with that, a 
few figures will be pertinent. In the first ten years of the 
present century, along the very stretch of coast which this 
inland waterway is to serve, 1,675 vessels with a tonnage 
of 483,743 were lost and 4,040 with a tonnage of 3,289,200 
were more or less seriously damaged. The loss to vessels 
was more than $30,000,000, and the loss to cargoes was 
more than $10,000,000. The number of Hves lost was 2,223. 
Now it is not to be contended that all these losses would 
have been spared if the intracoastal waterway had been in 
existence and operation. But if we reckon that only half 
of them would have been spared, which is a most con- 
servative estimate, we shall have a saving of $20,000,000, 
or $2,000,000 a year, which is as much as it would cost to 
open the entire route to navigation; not to mention the 
saving of more than 1,100 human lives. Surely it would 
be better to spend the money foi: the canal than to send it 
to the bottom of the sea. 

FOR COAST DEFENSE 

So much for the utility of the intracoastal waterway in 
time of peace. It should not be an objection to the project, 
not even to the most extreme pacifist, that it would be of 
still greater, vastly greater, utility in time of war, par- 
ticularly as its military usefulness would be entirely for 
defensive and not at all for aggressive purposes. Such a 
waterway would not be of sufficient capacity to accommo- 
date great battleships, and these indeed would have no 
occasion to use it. But its utihty for the mosquito fleet, 
the functions of which are exclusively defensive, would be 
simply inestimable. It would enable submarines, torpedo 
boats, and small gunboats, transports, and tenders, to move 
freely from one part of the coast to another without being 
256 



a" o- ft) 



Oi 



ro 



.*^ 



s ? 



^S 3 O 
S 2 f^! 




OUR MILITARY GEOGRAPHY 

exposed to the perils of the open and stormy ocean, or to 
attack or even observation by the enemy. It would enable 
them to be concentrated swiftly and secretly at any point 
on the coast where they might be needed; to swarm out of 
the nearest inlet to repel an approaching enemy. It would 
make any attempt to blockade any port of our coast futile, 
since that port would be in inland communication by water 
with all other ports along the coast. An enemy's fleet 
approaching any part of our coast would be confronted by a 
mobile fleet. There has been talk of the possibility of an 
enemy making a landing in force upon some remote and 
undefended part of our shores. That might readily be done, 
in present circumstances, if our battle-fleet were evaded or 
defeated. It would be impossible if the coast were lined 
at all points with a navigable inland waterway swarming 
with submarines and destroyers. And of course the peace- 
ful commerce of this route could be maintained in time 
of war in a security which would be impossible outside of 
the coast line. 

PANAMA AND THE CARIBBEAN 

The great need of the Panama Canal was felt at the 
beginning of our Spanish War; and its immense potential 
utility in war as well as its actual utihty in peace is now 
increasingly obvious. It would enable our fighting fleet to 
be quickly transferred from one coast to the other, as 
dringer threatened. In proportion to its value, however, 
is the need of protecting it from hostile seizure or destruc- 
tion. Such protection is not to be afforded by mere forti- 
fications at the terminals, though of course these are 
essential and the wisdom of our government in securing the 
treaty right to construct them is manifest. 
The security of the Canal depends upon our dominance in 
17 257 



OUR MILITARY GEOGRAPHY 

the adjacent waters, and particularly the Gulf of Mexico 
and the Caribbean Sea. It was in order to have a foot- 
hold from which to attack the Canal that Germany so 
persistently intrigued for the possession of territory, if 
only a naval station, somewhere about the Caribbean, and 
it was to hamper us in our plans for defense of the Canal 




Map Showing the Danish West Indies 



that she opposed, on one occasion successfully, our acquisi- 
tion of the Danish West Indies. Her extreme desire a few 
years ago to inveigle Holland into becoming a member of 
the empire was partly, of course, in order to gain Holland's 
frontage on the North Sea, but it was also in no small 
measure in order to be able to plant the German flag upon 
the Dutch Islands in the Caribbean. There is no more 
essential feature of our scheme of national defense than 
the maintenance of American dominance in those waters. 

258 




The Panama Canal 

A bird's-eye view of the great canal, which was planned as a short cut for the 

fleet of the United States from one ocean to the other. 



Chapter XXI 
THE MEANING OF THE WAR 

War Means War — The Initial Preparations — Increase of the Ai-my and Navy 
— Appropriating a War Budget — Seizure of German and Austrian Vessels which 
Had Been Interned — Arrest of German Spies and Conspirators — Warnings and 
Orders to Ahen Enemies — Government Confiscation of Wireless Telegraphy — 
The Nation Placed upon a War Footing — The Coming of War Commissioners 
from the AlUes — Our Practical Alliance with European Powers — A New Era in 
the Foreign Relationships of the United States. 

WAR MEANS WAR. That fact was not instantly grasped 
by the American nation upon our declaration of war with 
Germany. The scene of the conflict was far away. Surely 
we should not actually be mingled in the fighting. We 
should lend money to the allies, of course, and use our 
ships for conveying to them the supphes which they needed. 
But that would be all. It did not take long, however, 
for a truer conception of the situation to dawn upon even 
the easiest-going American mind. More than half a 
century ago Lowell wrote 

"It's war we're in, not politics; 
It's systems wrastlin' now, not parties;" 

and in the fateful month of April, 1917, the American 
people began to realize the fact. 

Immediately upon the declaration of war, bills were 
introduced in Congress for the prosecution of the conflict. 
A war loan of $7,000,000,000, the largest single appropri- 
ation ever made by any government in the world, was 
passed without a dissenting vote in either House. Later 
an Urgent Deficiency bill, appropriating $2,827,000,000 

259 



THE MEANING OF THE WAR 

more for war expenses was passed, only a single vote 
being cast against it in the House of Representatives. 
Bills for the increase of the army and navy were enacted, 
one of them providing for "selective conscription" in 
place of the discredited volunteer system. This last su- 
premely important measure, through scandalous ''playing 
pontics" in Congress, was not enacted until May 19th, and 
then the humiliating announcement was made by the War 
Department that, owing to the ''depletion of supplies," 
none of the 500,000 conscripts would actually be called to 
the colors before about the first of September! 

GEEMAN SHIPS SEIZED 

Meantime administrative acts were strenuous. A few 
hours after the enactment of the war resolution United 
States officers took possession of the vast and valuable 
array of German merchant vessels which had been interned 
for safety at various American ports. There were ninety- 
one of these vessels, including the largest steamship in 
the world and several others of the largest and swiftest 
class. Their total tonnage was in the neighborhood of 
400,000, and their value was probably much more than 
1100,000,000. A catalogue of this gigantic argosy, the 
largest by far ever seized in the history of the world, is 
as follows: 

At the port of New York, including Brooklyn and 
Hoboken: 

Gross Approximate 
Tons. Value. 

Vaterland, passenger 54,282 $7,500,000 

George Washington, passenger 27,000 5,000,000 

Kaiser Wilhelm II, passenger 19,361 4,000,000 

President Lincoln, passenger 18,168 3,600,000 

President Grant, passenger 18,072 3,600,000 

260 



THE MEANING OF THE WAR 

Gross Approximate 
Tons. Value, 

Pennsylvania, passenger 13,333 2,600,000 

Grosser Kurfiirst, passenger 13,243 2,600,000 

Barbarossa, passenger 10,915 2,000,000 

Princess Irene, passenger 10,881 2,000,000 

Friedrich der Grosse, passenger 10,695 2,000,000 

Hamburg, passenger 10,531 2,000,000 

Konig Wilhelm II, passenger 9,410 2,000,000 

Prinz Eitel Friedrich, passenger 8,797 1,500,000 

Armenia, freighter 5,471 1,000,000 

Adamsturm, freighter 5,000 1,000,000 

Pisa, freighter 4,967 1,000,000 

Prinz Joachim, passenger 4,760 1,000,000 

Allemannia, freighter 4,630 1,000,000 

Harburg, freighter 4,472 1,000,000 

Magdeburg, freighter 4,497 800,000 

Bohemia, freighter 4,284 800,000 

Nassovia, freighter 3,092 800,000 

Portonia, freighter. 2,778 600,000 

Maia, freighter 2,555 600,000 

Indra, ship 1,746 400,000 

Clara Mennig, freighter 1,685 500,000 

Matador, bark 1,468 300,000 

At twenty-three other ports, in the United States and 
the insular possessions: 

Tons. Tons. 

Boston: Baltimore: 

Amerika 22,622 Bulgaria 11,440 

Kronprinzessin Cecilia . 19,503 Rhein 10,058 

Cincinnati 16,339 Neckar 9,835 

Koln 7,409 Philadelphia: 

Wittekind 5,640 Rhaetia 6,600 

Ockenfels 5,621 Prmz Oskar 6,026 

New London: Newport News: 

Willehad 4,761 Arcadia 5,454 

261 



THE MEANING OF THE WAR 



Tons. 

Wilmington, N. C. : 

Kiel 4,494 

Nicaria 3,974 

Savannah : 

Hohenfelde 2,974 

Charleston : 

Liebenfels 4,525 

Pensacola : 

Rudolph Blumberg 1 ,769 

Vogesen 3,916 

Jacksonville: 

Frieda Leonhardt 2,822 

New Orleans : 

Breslau 7,524 

Andromeda 2,554 

San Francisco: 

Serapis 4,756 

Neptun 197 

Ottawa 3,659 

Portland, Ore.: 

Dalbeck 2,723 

Seattle : 

Saxonia 4,424 

Winslow, Wash. : 

Steinbeck 2,164 

Astoria : 

Arnoldus Vinnen 1,859 

Kurt 3,109 

Honolulu : 

Pommern 6,557 

Prinz Waldemar 3,227 

Setos 4,730 

Holsatia 5,649 

Locksun 1 ,657 

LoongMoon 1,971 



Tons. 

Honolulu — Continued 

Staatssekretar Kraetke . 2,009 

Governeur Jaeschke 1,738 

Hilo: 

C. J. D. Ahlers 7,490 

San Juan, P.P.: 

Odenwald 3,537 

Pago Pago, Samoa: 

Elsas 6,591 

Manila : 

Andalusia 5,433 

Buchum 6,161 

Camilla Rickmers 5,130 

Carl Diederichsen 1 ,243 

Clara Jebsen 1,735 

Coblenz 3,130 

Elmshorn 4,594 

Esslingen 4,902 

Johanne 1,531 

Lyeemoon 1,925 

Mark 6,579 

PongTong 1,631 

Rajah 2,028 

Sachsen 8,007 

Sambia 4,765 

Suevia 3,789 

Tubingen 5,586 

Zamboanga: 

Borneo 2,168 

Marudu 1,514 

Darvel 1,308 

Cebu: 

Prinzess Alice 10,981 

Tsintau 1,685 

Wiegand 499 



Many of these vessels had been maheiously damaged 
by their ci'ews, bj^ the breaking of parts of the engines, 
262 



THE MEANING OF THE WAR 

etc., before surrender; but none so seriously but that they 
could soon be repaired and put into service. 

AUSTRIAN SHIPS ALSO TAKEN 

A few days later, upon severance of diplomatic relations 
with Germany's ally, Austria-Hungary, the government 
similarly took possession of fourteen ships of that nation- 
ality, as follows: 

Gross Approximate 
Tonnage. Value. 

New York Bay: 

Martha Washington 8,312 $4,000,000 

Dora 7,037 2,000,000 

Ida 4,730 1,500,000 

Newark Bay: 

Himalaia 4,958 1,500,000 

Boston: 

Erny 6,515 3,000,000 

New Orleans : 

Clara 3,932 1,000,000 

Teresa 3,769 1,000,000 

Anna 1,575 200,000 

Pensacola : 

Lucia 6,744 3,000,000 

Galveston : 

Campania 3,551 1,500,000 

Morawitz 4,795 2,000,000 

Newport News: 

Budapest 3,651 1,000,000 

Philadelphia : 

Franconia 4,637 2,000,000 

Tampa: 

Borneo 3,621 1,000,000 

The pier and water-front property at Hoboken, which 
had been occupied by the great German steamship lines 

263 



/ 



THE MEANING OF THE WAR 

as their terminal, was taken by the United States Govern- 
ment as a center for shipment of suppHes to the allies. 

RADIO STATIONS SEIZED 

The government also, immediately upon the declaration 
of war, took possession of all wireless telegraphic stations, 
pubHc and private, and caused all that it did not need for 
its own purposes to be dismantled. This was, of course, 
to prevent the misuse of such apparatus by German spies, 
and also to prevent anybody from evading the censorship 
and transmitting information which the government did 
not wish sent out. In New York City alone more than 
two hundred amateur plants were thus seized and 
dismantled. 

MANY SPIES ARRESTED 

The day after the declaration of war no fewer than 
sixty-five German spies, or suspects, were arrested by 
the military authorities in various places throughout the 
country, while thousands more were placed under the 
observation of the Secret Service. This was the first 
time since the War of 1812 that such measures had been 
taken against aliens. 

The President also issued a proclamation, which was 
followed by state and municipal orders everywhere, pre- 
scribing the conditions on which unnaturalized Germans 
might continue to live in the United States and enjoy 
their freedom. They were required to surrender at once 
all arms and ammunition, and not to live or go within 
a certain distance of any arsenal, munitions factory, or 
other estabhshment named in the proclamation. Subject 
to these conditions, they were permitted to go about their 
business as usual. 
264 



THE MEANING OF THE WAR 

The agencies of German insurance companies, which 
were doing an enormous business in this country, carrying 
some $3,500,000,000 in risks, were permitted to continue 
operations, but all their assets were to be kept here. 

BUSINESS ORGANIZING FOR WAR 

All over the country, business began to organize for war. 
More than fifty railroad presidents, representing 250,000 
miles of roads, met at Washington to perfect plans for 
placing their roads at the disposal of the government 
for purposes of military transportation. The Federal 
Shipping Board began arrangements for the building of 
numerous cargo ships to take the place of those destroyed 
by German submarines, and General George W. Goethals, 
the builder of the Panama Canal, was placed in charge of 
this colossal undertaking. 

Meantime, for the protection of existing shipping and 
to minimize the danger of unexpected raids of hostile 
cruisers or submarines, barred zones of from two to ten 
miles in radius were established across the approaches to 
all harbors, which vessels were forbidden to enter at night, 
or without permission by the harbor patrol. 

INDUSTRY AT THE NATION'S SERVICE 

Within three days of the declaration of war about 32,000 
manufacturing establishments, including the largest in the 
country, placed themselves at the nation's service and 
offered to turn their plants and workmen over to the 
government, if needed. 

The American Federation of Labor, comprising nearly 
all labor organizations in the United States, through the 
unanimous action of its advisory committee pledged itself 
not to take advantage of the country's necessities to change 
existing standards of hours or wages, thus averting strikes. 

265 



THE MEANING OF THE WAR 

CO-OPERATION WITH THE ALLIES 

One of the most interesting and significant achieve- 
ments of the period immediately following the declaration 
of war was the entering of the United States into a co- 
operative entente with the allied powers of Europe. Two 
important commissions came at once from Great Britain 
and France to this country and held a series of war con- 
ferences with the President and his Cabinet at Washington. 
That from Great Britain was headed by Arthur James 
Balfour, Foreign Secretary and formerly Prime Minister, 
one of the foremost British statesmen of his time, and one 
who throughout his career had been distinguished for 
friendliness to America. The French commission was 
headed by M. Rene Viviani, formerly Prime Minister, 
and Field Marshal Joffre, the hero of the battle of the 
Marne. These commissions were cordially received by 
the President and Congress, and with vast enthusiasm 
by the general public. One of their earliest acts was to 
pay a visit of homage to the home and tomb of Washington 
at Mount Vernon. 

They made it quite clear to the American Government 
that there was urgent need of our aid, in money, in ships 
and in men; to keep the European aUies supplied with 
food, and to reinforce the armies in France which for so 
long a time had been enduring the awful strain of holding 
back the German hordes. As a result of their representa- 
tions our government was incited to redoubled efforts, 
and it was decided to send an American army to France 
at the earliest practicable date. 

NO '' ENTANGLING ALLIANCES" 

It was also made clear, however, that the United States 
was not asked or expected to renounce the Monroe Doctrine 
266 



THE MEANING OF THE WAR 

or to depart from its fixed policy of not forming permanent 
alliances with European powers. On this point Mr. 
Balfour, speaking for all his colleagues, was most explicit. 
^'I am told," he said, ''that there are some doubting 
critics who seem to think that the object of the mission 
of Great Britain and France is to inveigle the United States 
out of its traditional policy and to entangle it in a formal 
alliance, secret or pubHc, with European powers. I cannot 
imagine any rumor with less foundation, nor can I imagine 
any policy so utterly unnecessary. Our confidence in the 
assistance which we are going to get from this country 
is not based upon such considerations as those which arise 
out of formal treaties." 

PURPORT OF THE ENTENTE 

There was no treaty, then, but there was a ''gentle- 
men's agreement," or an entente, no less specific and 
binding. It was to the effect that the United States and 
the European aUies would co-operate in the war to the 
end, and that no power should make a separate peace 
with Germany. At the end of the war, the United States 
would take an equal part in the peace conference, and 
terms would be insisted upon which would be satisfactory 
to all. But there would be no thought of dragging the 
United States into any permanent league of European 
powers, or into matters which did not directly concern it. 

Thus was begun a new era in the relationships between 
America and the European powers, which was in fact 
merely a reversion to and fulfilment of the policy enunciated 
by the founders of the republic but never before put into 
execution. 



267 



Chapter XXII 
OUR RELATIONS WITH THE ALLIES 

Mutual Misunderstandings at the Beginning of the War — The President's 
Ideals of Perfect Neutrality — Seeking the Impossible — Reasons for Our Official 
Attitude — Effect of the German Propaganda — Astonishment of the Allies at 
Our Course — America Saved by Three European Powers from German Invasion 
• — The Service of the British Fleet — Radical Difference Between the Two Bel- 
ligerent Leagues — Allied Legality and German Illegality — Dollars or Human 
Lives — America at Last Realizing the Difference — Mutual Understanding and 
Co-operation at Last Attained Without Sacrifice of American Principles. 

A DRAMA of misunderstanding; that is what we must 
consider the great war to have been before our entry into 
it; at least so far as America and the AlHes — now our 
allies — were concerned. Never, perhaps, was there another 
war in which the essential issues were so little appreciated 
by the chief neutral power, or in which the chief neutral 
and one of the belligerent sides so little understood each 
other; though in the end the most complete mutual under- 
standing came. We speak now of the official attitude of 
mind. Doubtless there were many individuals on each 
side of the Atlantic who had the Vision, and who from the 
beginning rightly appreciated the position and the conduct 
of both America and the Allies. But diplomacy is directed 
and history is largely made by the official and not the 
individual course. 

THE president's CONCEPTION OF NEUTRALITY 

The official attitude of the United States was set forth 
by the President in his proclamation of neutrahty, at the 
very beginning of the war. The proclaiming of neutrality 
was of course not only proper but necessary, unless we 
268 



OUR RELATIONS WITH THE ALLIES 

were at once to implicate ourselves in the war. But the 
President went further than merely to proclaim official 
neutrahty. He sought popular neutrality as well. He 
was aware of the large numbers of our own citizens of 
British, French and other allied nations origin and sym- 
pathy, and of the large though lesser numbers of those of 
Teutonic affiliation, and he dreaded the possible dissensions 
and conflicts which might arise in this country between 
the respective partisans of the two belligerent leagues. 
With this in mind, he exhorted all Americans to observe 
strict neutrality, not merely in acts and words, but even 
in thought. We must not, he insisted, permit our inner 
and secret S3anpathies to turn toward one side or the other. 
That was impossible, of course. It was an exhortation 
against nature. It is doubtful if many ever seriously 
tried to obey his injunction; and it is practically certain 
that few ever succeeded in doing so. But that impossible 
attitude was the official attitude of record, and it was that 
by which foreign nations were compelled to judge us. 
Indeed, even to a date only a little while before the American 
declaration of war, that attitude was nominally still main- 
tained. As related elsewhere in this volume, in his note 
suggesting overtures for peace, in December, 1916, President 
Wilson referred to the two belligerent leagues of Europe 
as having at least professedly the same objects and pur- 
poses in the war; a suggestion against which the Allies 
strongly protested. 

REASONS FOR OUR ATTITUDE 

Suggestion has already been made of the President's 
motive, or of one of his motives, in recommending this 
impossibly neutral attitude. There were other reasons 
why m^any of the American people were at first unable to 

269 



OUR RELATIONS WITH THE ALLIES 

perceive the real issues of the war, and were slow in realizing 
how immediate and intense was American interest in it. 

We had been at peace with the world for many years, 
and had got out of the habit of thinking in terms of war 
or of analyzing and comprehending the causes and pur- 
poses of war. A stupendous and complex problem was 
presented to us, and we were unfamiliar with the method 
of its solution and even with the value of its various factors. 

There had grown up in America, too, the strange delu- 
sion that we had a traditional policy of complete isolation 
from European affairs, and that all European wars were 
necessarily matters of indifference to us, in which we were 
by no means to become involved. 

We must also recognize the facts that there had long 
been here a persistent and often vigorous anti-British 
propaganda. It not infrequently happens that dissensions 
between near relatives are more bitter, up to a certain 
point, than those between strangers. Thus America, 
being chiefly of British origin, indulged in a family feud 
with the Mother Country. 

The large and important Irish element in the United 
States, too, propioted a certain disapproval of and even 
resentment at Great Britain on account of the undoubted 
grievances which Ireland had formerly for many yeans 
suffered under British rule. 

THE GERMAN PROPAGANDA 

Another potent factor in misleading American opinion 
at the beginning was the shrewd, insidious and altogether 
unscrupulous German propaganda, which was Protean in 
form and often ingenious in the superlative degree. It 
took the guise of peace societies, of anti-militarist leagues, 
of petitions against the sale of military munitions, and of 
270 



OUR RELATIONS WITH THE ALLIES 

other ostensibly neutral and benevolent movements; all 
organized and directed, however, by Germans or German 
sympathizers, largely financed with German money, and 
all aiming at the same end, to create sympathy with Ger- 
many and to exacerbate animosity against England. 

A single example — one of many — may be cited. Early 
In the war certain German intriguers and conspirators 
started the circulation of petitions to Congress to enact 
an embargo upon the exportation of munitions. This 
was signed by more than a million persons, all over the 
country, under the auspices of a so-called "Organization of 
American Women for Strict Neutrality." The signatures 
were solicited on the ground that we ought not to sell 
munitions to the foes of Germany because ''Germany did 
not permit her citizens to sell arms or munitions of war to 
Spain during our war with that nation," and that same 
statement was embodied in the text of the petition itself. 
The fact is that that statement was a deliberate falsehood, 
first put forward by a notorious German agent in New 
York and later used at German instigation in this petition, 
for the direct purpose of deceiving and misleading the 
American people. The indisputable official record of our 
own government is that during that entire war vessels 
freely carried ammunition from German ports to Spain. 

THE ALLIES ASTONISHED 

All these things had their effect in America, to the 
astonishment of the Allies. Those countries saw through 
the German intrigues and falsehoods far more quickly 
and more clearly than did we, and they could not under- 
stand our blindness. They realized, too, from the very 
beginning the real character of the war, that it was a war 
on their side of democracy against autocracy, of the rights 

271 



OUR RELATIONS WITH THE ALLIES 

of man against the "divine right of kings." They saw in 
the violation of treaties, the repudiation of international 
law, and the subversion of independent nationalities a 
direct menace to every nation in the world. If Germany 
could override the rights of Belgium, any nation could 
override the rights of any other. 

All this was very clear to the British and French minds, 
and the}^ could not understand why it was not equally 
obvious to the American mind. They could not under- 
stand why the United States failed to do so much as to 
file a protest or a remonstrance against the violation of 
Belgium, when it was one of the signatories of that treat}^ 
of The Hague which declared and covenanted, on the faith 
of all the signatory nations, that the territory of that 
kingdom — that is, of all neutral states — should be inviolate. 

NOT ASTONISHED BUT ASTOUNDED 

They were not merely astonished, they were astounded, 
at some of the further developments. They could not 
understand why, after the appalling tragedy of the Lusi- 
tania, we did not promptly hold Germany to the "strict 
accountabihty " which we had threatened. They could 
not understand how we could continue on terms of friendly 
diplomatic intercourse with a power after we had found 
that its Ambassador, attaches and consuls in this countr}^ 
had been systematically conspiring for the commission of 
felonies against our domestic peace, law and order, and 
against our status as a neutral power. 

They did not, of course, give due weight to the circum- 
stances of this nation — its utter unpreparedness for war, 
its habitual disinclination toward war, and the essential 
difference between its point of view and manner of thought 
and their own. In a lesser emergency there might have been 
272 



OUR RELATIONS WITH THE ALLIES 

less misunderstanding. But this world cataclysm was so stu- 
pendous, so stupefying, so overwhelming, that neither they 
nor we could appreciate the other's feelings or point of view. 

OUR THREE SAVIORS 

Meantime three European nations were our saviors. 
The fact was largely ignored at the time, and was even 
ignorantly or maliciously denied. But it was and is a 
fact, which must abide in history. The ultimate purpose 
of Germany in beginning this war was universal conquest 
of all nations; and, as John Hay once remarked, ^'all 
nations includes America." That fact was made suffi- 
ciently clear in the writings of General von Bernhardi 
and other German militarists. It was unmistakably sug- 
gested by the pains with which Germany's army and navy 
departments secured, long before this war, the most elabor- 
ate, accurate and detailed maps and plans of our chief 
harbors and seaboard cities and the country surrounding 
them. It was openly boasted at the beginning of the war, 
by many prominent and authoritative Germans. "In 
three weeks," they said, ''we shall have Paris; in three 
months, England; in three years, America!" It may 
be added that since his return home Mr. Gerard, our 
Ambassador to Germany from before the beginning of 
the war until our breach of relations with that country, 
has amply and emphatically confirmed, from knowledge 
acquired at Berlin, this account of Germany's intentions. 

Now there were three things which frustrated this design 
of the Kaiser's, and which therefore saved the United 
States from having to fight for its life against a wholesale 
German invasion. The first was the sublime heroism and 
self-immolation of Belgium in resisting with her puny 
might the onset of the German legions. She was quickly 

18 273 



OUR RELATIONS WITH THE ALLIES 

crushed, and has ever since been suffering mart^Tdom for 
her temerity. But the few days of delay of the German 
army in battering down the forts of Liege enabled France 
to get her troops together and England to send a handful 
of her '' contemptible little army" across the Channel, 
to make a stand at the Marne, near the very ground where, 
more than fourteen centuries before, Aetius and the Gauls 
had defeated Attila and his Hunnish hordes fresh from 
their ravishing of Belgium. It was that victorious stand 
at the Marne that prevented the modern Attila and his 
Huns, fresh from their ravishing of Belgium, from fulfilling 
their boast of ''Paris in three weeks." 

But even before that, and at that time, and ever since 
down to the present moment, it was and is the British 
fleet that saved America and the world from the German 
menace. Month after month and year after year, the 
French and British armies, at fearful cost, held in Cham- 
pagne and Picardy the line that never was broken, and 
kept the Teutonic armies in check. Month after month 
and year after year, too, in the stormy northern seas, the 
British fleet kept the German navy locked within its mine- 
guarded ports, and thus preserved the freedom of the 
seas for us and for all peaceful nations, and protected 
America from fulfilment of the German boast of conquest 
within three years. It is the British fleet and it alone that 
enables us to enter this war with Germany on our own 
terms, and not confronted with German dreadnoughts 
thundering at the gateways of our ports, and with German 
legions debarking upon our unguarded coasts. 

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE BELLIGERENTS 

All this is quite clear to America today. It was clear 
to the Allies beyond the sea from the very beginning of 
274 



OUR RELATIONS WITH THE ALLIES 

the war. And their understanding of it, and their failure 
to understand our apparent lack of understanding of it, 
account for their astonishment at our earlier attitude. 
These things also account for some of the friction which 
arose between them and us in the former stages of the war. 

There was undoubtedly some French and British inter- 
ference with our commerce and our mails, and those powers 
appeared upon the face of the case to be violating our 
rights and denying the freedom of the seas. They did 
not proclaim a true blockade of the German coast, under 
which they would of course have had an undeniable right 
to stop all commerce. Yet they did stop and forbid our 
commerce with Germany and even with certain neutral 
states, and they exercised a certain censorship over our 
mails. These things were regarded as grievances by us, 
and led to some more or less animated diplomatic contro- 
versy. 

Here again there was misunderstanding. The AUies 
regarded themselves as fighting our battles for us as well 
as their own, as indeed they were, as we now see and con- 
fess. Therefore they thought that we ought not to object 
to such measures as were necessary for the successful 
prosecution of their campaign. That was a point of view 
which was very real to them, but which we did not in the 
least appreciate. 

COMMERCIAL ABUSES 

There were other reasons for their course. They did 
not declare a blockade, because to have done so would 
have imposed far greater hardships upon us than those 
which we did suffer. It would have meant the confisca- 
tion instead of the mere turning back of vessels which 
attempted to break through the Hne. 

275 



OUR RELATIONS WITH THE ALLIES 

But they did interfere with our commerce with neutral 
states, because those states were bordering upon Germany 
or were in commercial intercourse with her, and the goods 
which we shipped to them were perfectly well known to 
be destined for Germany. It would have been folly for 
the Allies to prohibit our shipping supplies to Germany 
directly, and yet permitting us to ship them in unlimited 
quantities to Denmark, to be sent right across that country 
into Germany. That such was the destination of the goods, 
there was no doubt; there was not even a pretence at 
denial of it. It was perfectly obvious from the fact that 
immediately after the outbreak of the war the importa- 
tions into those neutral states — Denmark, Norway, and 
Holland — enormously increased. It would have been 
absurd to pretend that because of the war or for any 
other reason those countries suddenly needed for their 
own use three or four times as great supphes as ever 
before. 

An example of this abuse of commerce may be cited. 
A concern in Holland began soliciting from Japan ship- 
ments of Japanese bronze statuary, as ''works of art" 
which of course could not be considered contraband of 
war. But it stated explicitly that it did not care what 
the subjects were, nor whether the pieces were artistically 
meritorious or not, so long as they were of solid bronze, 
the heavier the better. They need not even be finished 
and pohshed; in the roughest form they would be 
just as acceptable. Yet, however rough they were, 
they should be packed in thick sheets of india rubber, 
to protect them from being scratched or dented! Of 
course it was nothing in the world but a scheme 
for gejiting supphes of bronze and rubber for mihtary 
purposes. 
276 





^°'^*'"""™"""'m1or-Oenek„.GbokoeW.Goethai,s 
for the government. 




The Right Hon. DA\aD Lloyd GEORfSE 
Who became Prime Minister of England December 6 191G. His work cKin^^^^ 
the war was of great importance, first as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and then Mmister 
of Munitions, and after the death of Ivitchener as Mimster of War. 



OUR RELATIONS WITH THE ALLIED 

MISUSING THE MAILS 

There were similar abuses of the mails. Germans in 
America and elsewhere made use of them to ship into 
Germany goods which if sent as freight would instantly 
have been seized as contraband. Tons of copper and 
india rubber and other goods were offered for transmission 
through the parcels post, and indeed large quantities were 
sent at great expense by first-class letter post. Of course 
military and naval information, secured by German spies, 
was also sent through the mails, especially after the United 
States Government established supervision over the wire- 
less telegraphic stations and forbade the transmission of 
non-neutral messages by that means. 

In brief, the Allies were not interfering with legitimate 
mails or commerce, but were merely putting a stop to their 
illegitimate use under cover of specious pretences. 

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BELLIGERENTS 

From the beginning of the war, moreover, there was a 
radical difference between the belligerents in their attitude 
toward this country, and in the character of those acts 
of theirs which gave or were supposed to give us cause 
for offense. The acts of the Allies in interfering with our 
commerce^and mails were at worst of disputable legality. 
There was not one of them for which some justifying argu- 
ment based on international law and precedent could not 
be adduced; some of the precedents having been set by 
this country itself in its treatment of neutral commerce 
during the Civil War. Thus we had intercepted and 
confiscated a cargo bound in a British ship from one British 
port to another — to wit, from Liverpool to Nassau, New 
Providence — on the ground that it was contraband and 
was meant to be transshipped from the second port to a 

277 



OUR RELATIONS WITH THE ALLIES 

belligerent destination; and that act was sustained by our 
Supreme Court and was acquiesced in by the British Govern- 
ment. That certainly gave some ground for the inter- 
ception of cargoes bound from an American to a Dutch 
or Danish port when there was reasonable cause for belief 
that they were to be transshipped thence to a German 
destination. 

On the other hand, the acts of Germany were indisputably 
and confessedly illegal; gross violations of international 
law and treaty rights, for which not even the most vehement 
partisan of Germany could offer a pretence of legal justi- 
fication. Thus there was nothing more clear in law than 
that merchant vessels must not be destroyed until visit 
and search had demonstrated the contraband character 
of their cargo ; that even then they were not to be destroyed 
unless the conveyance of them to port was physicalh' 
impossible; and that in case of destruction satisfactory 
provision was to be made for the safety of their passengers 
and crew. All these principles were flagrantly and defiantly 
violated by Germany, simply on the ground that she had 
adopted a new method of warfare — submarine — which 
made it impossible, or unsafe, or inconvenient, for her to 
obey the law. 

DOLLARS AND HUMAN LIVES 

There was another difference, of a still more striking and 
impressive character. That was, that at most the Allies 
destroyed our property, while the Germans destroyed human 
lives. The Allies interfered with our commerce, seized 
our property, lessened our financial profits, and delayed 
the transmission of our mails; but nothing more. They 
did not destroy nor imperil a single American fife. 

Germany, on the other hand, not only did all these 
278 




f 


f; 


1 


j.....\ 


r^^^ '• i 




- 


'■* ■:« 9 if y 


'^ 


f 1 . 



§^"§ 




OUR RELATIONS WITH THE ALLIES 

things which the AUies did, but also she imperiled and 
destroyed the lives of many American citizens. There 
was a contrast which smote upon the sensibilities of 
humanity itself with convincing force. On the one hand 
dollars, on the other human lives. Between the two it 
was impossible for us to hesitate. 

REALIZING THE DIFFERENCE 

These radical and essential differences, differences of 
kind and not merely of degree, were not at first fully appre- 
ciated by the American Government and people. But 
as the war proceeded the realization became more and more 
complete. President Wilson emphasized it when he 
denounced the German submarine campaign as necessarily 
contrary to law and to humanity; something which could 
not be mended but must be ended. 

The result was that by the beginning of the present 
year the American Government and people, with excep- 
tions so few as to be negligible, had by the inexorable logic 
of events been brought to take almost precisely the view 
of the war which the Allies had taken from the beginning, 
and when after our declaration of war against Germany 
the commissioners of the chief allied powers came hither 
to confer with our government, complete accord was found 
to prevail. 

MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING 

The mutual understanding was as complete as the 
misunderstanding had been at the beginning of the war. 
On the one hand, the United States appreciated the neces- 
sity of co-operation with the Allies and of persistence in the 
campaign until Prussian militarism should be thoroughly 
defeated and it would be possible to restore peace on a 

279 



OUR RELATIONS WITH THE ALLIES 

basis of justice and of assurance against the recurrence of 
the war. The idea, once expressed, of ''peace without 
victory," was seen to be erroneous, and peace with victory 
— victory for justice and international law and the principles 
of humanity — to be a necessity of mankind. 

On the other hand, the AlHes understood the reason and 
the righteousness of the American resolution to maintain 
the long-established policy of this country not to meddle 
with affairs beyond its own concern and not to enter into 
permanent alliances with European powers. It was per- 
ceived that co-operation did not require complication, 
and that it would be possible for the United States to 
fight this war through and participate in the establishment 
of terms of peace in the most loyal and complete co-opera- 
tion with the AUies, and yet not to bind itself to anything 
beyond those Hmits. 

In such an understanding America and the Allies came 
together in April and May, 1917, and together engaged in 
the transcendent task of bringing order out of chaos and 
of restoring law and justice, humanity and the rights of 
man, in the midst of an all but universal cataclysm. 



280 



Chapter XXIII 
PAN-AMERICA AND OTHERS 

Our Relations with Latin America — German Influences Hostile to Us in 
Several States — Suspicion of Our Motives — German Schemes of Invasion — 
The Awakening of Latin America — Approval of Our Breach of Relations with 
Germany — Similar Course of the European Neutrals, and of China — Universal 
Condemnation of the German Submarine Campaign — Our Declaration of War 
Similarly Approved — Brazil's Breach of Relations with Germany — Course of 
Other States — Latin America Practically United in Support of This Country. 

WHAT OF Latin America? That was one of the first 
and most interesting questions asked in and concerning 
the war, and one the answer to which has been supremely 
significant and gratifying. It must be borne in mind that 
for some little time before the outbreak of the war our 
relations with the countries to the south of us had not been 
as cordial and confidential as might have been desired. 
With some of them, indeed, our relations were strained 
and unsympathetic. We had been practically if not 
technically at war with Mexico. Colombia still cherished 
resentment for her loss of Panama, with which, though 
not equitably, she charged the United States. Chili had 
not altogether forgotten our unwarranted meddling in her 
domestic affairs away back in 1891. And in all three of 
these countries German financial as well as diplomatic 
influence was particularly strong, and of course was exerted 
to the fullest extent against the United States. In fact, 
as suggested in another chapter, the unpleasantness between 
this country and Colombia was almost entirely of German 
incitement and fomentation, while if the troubles in Mexico 

281 



PAN-AMERICA AND OTHERS 

were not of German origin it was largely because of German 
intrigues and conspiracies that they were turned against 
this country. 

In two of the southern states of Brazil, moreover, there 
were considerable colonies of German immigrants and their 
descendants, who had purposely been kept purely German 
and quite unassimilated with the Brazilians, in hope some 
day of forming the nucleus of a German colonial empire 
in that region, and the extent of their influence upon the 
course of Brazil was an unknown quantity. 

SUSPICION OF THE UNITED STATES 

Beside these specific circumstances, it is undeniable 
that a certain degree of suspicion concerning the intentions 
of the United States toward them prevailed at that time 
among nearly if not quite all the states of Latin America. 
Our mischievous meddling in Chili, our acquisition of the 
Panama Canal, our coercion of Venezuela, our establish- 
ment of virtual protectorates over Haiti and Santo 
Domingo, our action toward some of the Central American 
states, and above all our extraordinary policy toward 
Mexico, had given anti-American intriguers and agitators 
apparently plausible ground for insinuating that we had a 
purpose to override the independence of all those countries 
and to make them tributary to us. 

Not for many years had our relations with Latin America 
been in so delicate if not so critical a condition, and it 
was in full understanding of that fact that early in the 
war the German Government began plotting to form 
an alliance with Mexico and to strike at the United 
States through that country, backed with the moral 
if not the mihtary aid of all the countries at the 
south. 
282 



PAN -A ME RICA AND OTHERS 

PAN-AMERICAN AWAKENING 

But in that expectation Germany was grievously dis- 
appointed. Probably no countries in the world are more 
versed in international law and jurisprudence, or have a 
more scrupulous regard for the sanctity of the same, than 
those between the Rio Grande and Cape Horn. They 
were quick, therefore, to perceive the iniquity of the German 
course, and to perceive in it a menace against themselves 
and all other nations. Even in Mexico, amid the domestic 
chaos of that unhappy country, the real animus of the 
German intrigues was understood, and little or no encour- 
agement was given to the anti- American temptations. 
"Timeo Teutones," said the land of the Aztecs, "et dona 
ferentes.'' 

There began, then, an awakening of Latin America 
such as that continent had not known before, and a turning 
toward the United States similar to that which had followed 
the promulgation of the Monroe Doctrine and which had 
not been known since. It was universally felt that Germany 
was renewing that menace of the Holy Alliance which 
the Monroe Doctrine had been designed to combat and 
which it had in fact defeated. In such circumstances 
there was just one thing to do. That was, to align them- 
selves with the United States. 

FAN-AMERICA AGAINST GERMANY 

So long as we remained neutral and on friendly terms 
with Germany, the South and Central American countries 
did the same. When we severed diplomatic relations 
with Germany, at the beginning of February, 1917, they 
did not indeed follow our example but they showed unmis- 
takably their sjnnpathy with it. Brazil took the lead. 
On February 6th Lauro MueUer, the Brazilian Foreign 

283 



PAN-AMERICA AND OTHERS 

Minister, himself of German origin, informed the German 
Government that Brazil could not recognize the validity 
of the submarine blockade and campaign against merchant 
shipping, but protested against it, and would hold Germany 
responsible for any acts involving Brazilian citizens or 
property which were contrary to international law or 
treaty rights. 

Chili, in which German commercial and financial influ- 
ences were particularly strong, assumed a similar attitude, 
even more tersely and emphatically expressed; reserving 
liberty of action for the protection of her citizens and their 
property. Argentina did the same, declaring that she 
would act at sea according to her fundamental rights and 
the principles of international law. Bolivia, Uruguay, 
Panama and Cuba issued similar notes. Peru specifically 
demanded reparation and indemnity for the sinking of 
one of her vessels by Germany; adding that she could 
not admit the resolution of which Germany had given 
notice, regarding it as opposed to international law and 
the legal rights of neutral nations. 

COURSE OF OTHER NEUTRALS 

Other neutral nations also strongly protested against 
Germany's announcement of unrestricted submarine war- 
fare. Spain declared that Germany's note ^'caused a very 
painful impression," and denounced it as "contrary to 
the principles observed by all nations even in moments 
of the greatest violence." 

Holland declared that her government was "obliged 
to object with extreme energy," and that she could see 
in the German pohcy "violation of the rights of nations, 
to say nothing of an attack upon the laws of humanit}^" 

Switzerland, the incarnation of neutrality and peace, 
284 



PAN-AMERICA AND OTHERS 

had no shipping to be menaced by submarines; but she 
was dependent for her imports upon the shipping of other 
nations, and she was also much interested in international 
law and in humanity. Therefore she promptly condemned 
Germany's policy as ''an attack upon the right of peaceful 
commerce/' and protested energetically against it. 

The three Scandinavian governments, of Sweden, Nor- 
way and Denmark, conferred together for a week, and 
then united in an identical note, protesting in the strongest 
manner against the policy which Germany had announced, 
and holding Germany responsible for any injury which 
their people might suffer through it. 

China, also, aligned herself with America and the other 
neutral powers in protesting energetically against Ger- 
many's course. She added that if Germany persisted in it, 
she would have to sever diplomatic relations with her, 
and would take such other action as might be necessary 
for the maintenance of the principles of international law. 

Thus practically the entire neutral world was arrayed 
on the side of America in her resistance to the arrogant, 
unlawful and immoral pretensions and menaces of the 
German Government. 

APPROVING OUR WAR DECLARATION 

Our declaration of war against Germany caused a wide- 
spread confirmation and intensification of that attitude. 
Brazil took the lead on April 11th in severing diplomatic 
relations with Germany, and the sentiment of her people 
in favor of the further step of war was unmistakably shown 
in great armed uprisings against the German residents 
of the southern states, which the government had difficulty 
in suppressing. Two days later Bolivia also severed rela- 
tions with Germany. 

285 



PAN-AMERICA AND OTHERS 

Argentina issued a note recognizing the justice of our 
course in declaring war against Germany because of the 
latter's violation of the principles of neutrality established 
by the rules of international law. Costa Rica made a 
similar declaration, and opened her ports to the free and 
unlimited use of our ships without the limitations usually 
imposed upon belligerent vessels in neutral ports. 

Uruguay approved the American declaration of war 
and described Germany's submarine warfare as "an insult to 
humanity." Paraguay expressed s^Tnpathy with the United 
States in its action, recognizing that this country had been 
"forced into war to rehabilitate the rights of neutrals." 

Panama, a protectorate of the United States, announced 
her readiness to assist this country in any way for the 
protection of the Isthmian Canal, while Cuba, another 
protectorate, squarely declared war against Germany. 

The other states were less outspoken, but not one of 
them expressed disapproval of our course or sympathy 
with Germany. 

A NEW AMERICAN ERA 

Although Chili contented herself for the time with a 
reaffirmation of neutrality and insistence upon neutral 
rights, one of her foremost statesmen was particularly 
outspoken in approving the course of the United States 
and in declaring that this country had therein the support 
of all Latin America. This was Dr. Alejandro Alvarez, 
formerly Counsellor of the Chilian Foreign Office and later 
Secretary-General of the American Institute of Inter- 
national Law. Speaking to a correspondent of The New 
York Times, he said: 

"The entry of the United States into the war marks a 
new phase, the more so since some of the Latin American 
286 



PAN-AMERICA AND OTHERS 

States have taken similar action and all the others have 
expressed themselves as unqualifiedly in sympathy with 
them. This support of Latin America can be explained 
as being an expression of gratitude for the aid given by 
the United States one hundred years ago, when the other 
American countries were winning their independence, as 
well as being the result of the solidarity of interests and 
of sentiment between the American States, which has 
shown itself especially during the course of the nine- 
teenth century. In view of this solidarity, there could be 
no doubt that the United States would have the support 
and sympathy of all the countries of Latin America. 

"The entry of the United States in the war marks, 
therefore, a new era because, unhke the States of Europe, 
the United States is not actuated by the desire of conquest 
or by the spirit of rivalry, but, as was well said by President 
Wilson, in defense of the rights of humanity. And in the 
defense of these rights the United States can count on 
the support and sjmipathy of all America. If during the 
last two and one-half years the United States has struggled 
in this war to defend neutral rights, today it is taking part 
in order to bring about important changes in the existing 
political and legal order, to reorganize the society of nations 
on a new basis, which will make that society more stable. 
And this basis is an American basis, which has been tested 
in our continent for the last hundred years and which has 
resulted in strengthening the bonds of friendship between 
all the American States, without creating the great rivalries 
which exist between the States of Europe." 

AFTER MANY YEARS 

It had been a full century since the Holy Alliance had 
begun its m^enace against American democracy. It had 

287 



PAN-AMERICA AND OTHERS 

been a hundred years less six since the culmination of that 
menace in the preparation for overt acts had roused this 
country to acceptance of the challenge and to the offering 
of resolute and militant defiance. That heroic assertion 
of American democracy had for a year evoked a glad and 
sympathetic response from all our southern neighbors. 
Then, in an hour of crassest folly, and for the sake of main- 
taining a national crime, we had repulsed that sympathy 
and alienated those whom we assumed to protect. 

In the fulness of time, and with the fitness of fate, the 
work of a century before was resumed, confirmed and 
perfected. Before the insolent menace of a league of 
autocracy, more reactionary and more hostile to the rights 
of nations and of men than was the unholy Holy Alliance 
at its unholiest estate, the democracy of America, North, 
Central, South and Insular, arose in resolute and harmonious 
union. 



288 





/-( 




\l 


' ¥ 




1 


c 




1^ 








1 Q 


























ATOZZJ £ iJ^tffOY 


' ^ 


66 6C^ f" 'Cf Ti^HS 






e&m 


tMu> 


Is 


^ooomyr7j%^ 


ml 




Giant Guns — Their Muzzle-Energy, Proiectiles, and Penetrating 

Powers 

The British 13.5, which was known as the 12-inch-A until the "Lion" was 
launched, has a length of 45 calibers, and a muzzle-energy ten per cent greater than 
that of the 50-caliber 12-inch of 1909 and 1910. It may be noted that the caliber 
is the diameter of the bore of a gun. The statement that a gun has a length of 
45 calibers, for example, implies that the gun's length is forty-five times the bore's 
diameter. Thus a 12-inch gun of 45 calibers is 45 feet long. 




Sapping and Mining the Enemy's Trenches. 
When the hostile trenches are near together an open zig-zag trench 
is dug to a point very close to the enemy's line, then a covered gallery ia 
excavated to a point almost imder the hostile trench. 






jRCANiSATiON OF DEFEHCSS BY JOINING CRATER VViTM SHfcLL-HOLE: 



,^.i*.-A.A 




LIP OF CRATER 



r\ 



SECTION or CAIUERY. 



Gaining a Foot of Geound Pes Hour. 
Here a charge of explosive is placed and fired from a distance by an 
electric wire. At the same instant the men charge over the ground and 
occupy the ruined trench of the enemy. (II. L. News copr.) 




c5 


Ol 






O 


o 


rr>, 


o 


a 




r^ 




c 


Uj 


a 


-!-, 


Ph 





cii 





C3_D 




^- 




03 '^H 


w 


O 






z 
< 


"S s 




'o n 


« 




o 


^3 cu 
03 rj 




&+3 






< 


tC QJ 


c3 O 




bH 


»— I 


<B OJ 






w 


^ a 


s 


?:-rt 


<; 


c S 






w 


0}^ 


Q 


o o 


O 


?/-3 


§ 


V. <^ 




Ti CO 




^.-^ 




c3 S 




O O 




^j a 




^o 




so 




Ct^ 



o3.S 

o 9^ 

-5 =s 



Chapter XXIV 
HOW MODERN WARS ARE WAGED 

All the Resources of Science Drafted into War — The Scope of Warfare Doubled 
— Directing a Modern Battle — Mathematics and Mechanics — Torpedoes and 
Submarines — Many Lethal Inventions — High Power Firearms — The Hospital 
Service — A Notable Change in the Garb of AU Armies but One — Cryptic Colora- 
tion Learned from Animals — The Origin of "Khaki" — Purpose of Such Colora- 
tion — American "Army Blue" Abandoned — The French Alone Stick to the Old 
Uniform. 

TIMES CHANGE, and wars change with them. In 
no respect, probably, is human progress more strikingly 
shown than in the ways and means of war. The contrast 
between the cave or the hut and the modern mansion or 
great office building, between the stage coach and the 
express train, between the candle and the electric light, 
between the stylus and the printing press — these contrasts 
are not more marked than that between the methods of 
warfare of early ages and those of today. 

That is, of course, because many of the most advanced 
achievements of science, in chemistry, mechanics, engineer- 
ing and what not have been applied to the arts of war; 
if indeed they have not, as many certainly have, been 
effected expressly for military purposes. Thus gunpowder 
was invented for use in war. It became of vast utihty 
also in the arts of peace, but the improvements which have 
been made in it, and the development of other far more 
powerful explosives, have had their stimulus largely in 
the desire to increase the efficiency of military firearms. 
Steam navigation was of course applied to warships as 
well as to merchant vessels. Submarine navigation, which 

19 289 



HOW MODERN WARS ARE WAGED 

Fulton undertook before he invented his steamboat, was 
meant almost exclusively for warlike purposes. The 
telegraph, the telephone, wireless telegraphy, and the 
electric light, have been made adjuncts to the army. The 
most striking developments of the balloon and the aeroplane 
have been for military purposes. The automobile has 
been made a vehicle of war. 

DOUBLING THE FIELD OF WAR 

The present generation has seen the field of military 
operations doubled in extent, and more. Formerly war 
was waged on the surface of the earth and on the surface 
of the sea. Now it is waged with equal fury in the heavens 
above the earth and in the waters beneath the surface of 
the sea; to which we may add that it is also waged under 
ground to an extent never dreamed of in earlier wars. 

The ride of Paul Revere, and the beacon fires of the days 
of the Armada, are now supplanted by the telegraph and 
telephone as means of arousing the people and of summon- 
ing troops to the scene of conflict. Armies no longer march 
great distances to meet the foe, but are conveyed by trains, 
perhaps on railroads specially built for the purpose. 
Supplies of food and ammunition instead of being brought 
by mule wagon are conveyed by trains of automobile trucks. 

BATTLEFIELD COMMUNICATIONS 

A hundred or even fifty years ago, the commanding 
general of an army sought some coign of vantage from 
which he could survey the entire field of battle; or if 
that was impossible, he stationed himself as close to the 
firing line as might be prudent and kept himself informed 
of the progress of the battle and sent his orders to his 
lieutenants by relays of mounted messengers. 
290 




< . 

I-H V 



c:i 



a, g 






HOW MODERN WARS ARE WAGED 

Now he may be miles from the scene of battle, seated 
in his tent or in a house, following the movements of the 
troops on a topographical map and transmitting orders 
and receiving reports by telephone to and from all parts 
of the field. Thus an army of hundreds of thousands, 
operating on a battle front of twenty or thirty miles, is as 
directly under control of the distant commander-in-chief 
as was a single regiment in olden times. 

NAVAL MECHANICS AND MATHEMATICS 

Equally striking has been the transformation of naval 
warfare. In Nelson's day, and even in Farragut's, the 
captain or the admiral stood on the quarter-deck, directing 
the navigation of the ship and the fighting of the crew, 
while the ammunition was brought to and placed in the 
guns by hand. Now the commander stands in his armored 
conning tower, giving commands by telephone, and the 
ammunition is handled and the guns are loaded by me- 
chanical or electrical devices. The whole battleship is an 
intricate, elaborate engine or congeries of engines, operated 
by steam or electricity. 

One great cause of the American naval victories in the 
War of 1812 was their use of sights on cannon. But now 
a warship's guns are aimed by machinery, according to 
elaborate mathematical calculations. Instead of laying 
hostile ships side by side, gun-muzzles touching, as Paul 
Jones loved to do, the fighting is conducted at a distance 
of miles. The huge guns, loaded with smokeless explosives, 
hurl shells of half a ton weight each a distance of a dozen 
miles, with force sufficient to pierce the vitals of a ship 
at seven or eight miles, and with fuse gauged to explode 
the projectile within a second or two of the appointed time; 
while the mathematical and mechanical accuracy of the 

291 



HOW MODERN WARS ARE WAGED 

aiming is so great that at a distance of several miles a shot 
can be landed within a few feet of any designated point, 
and that when both vessels are moving at full speed. 



TORPEDOES AND SUBMARINES 



A hundred years ago the torpedo was a cask filled with 
powder, which drifted or was thrust against a vessel and 




Submarine Torpedo-boat op the Holland Type 
a, a, storage-batteries; h, b, main ballast-tank; c, gasolene tank; d, torpedo 
compensating-tank; e, forward trimming-tank; /, torpedo-tube; g, g, torpedoes; h, 
conning-tower; j, water-tight hatch on top of conning- tower; A;, steering-compass; 
I, ordinary steering-rudder, the horizontal divnng-rudder not shown; m, screw-pro- 
peller; n, after trimming-tank; o, air-compressor; p, combined dynamo and motor; 
5, gasolene engine; r, r, periscope motors; s, ventilating-tube; t, auxiliary ballast- 
tank; u, adjusting ballast-tank; v, air-storage tanks; w, forward water-tight hatch. 

was exploded by percussion caps on contact. Today the 
torpedo is an elaborate mechanism capable of being dis- 
patched with unerring aim for a great distance. It can 

penetrate the hull of 



tfve omMJcera/tt 




an enemy's ship at the 
range of a mile, and it 
may explode on contact 
or be exploded by a 
time mechanism at the 
designated second. 
Such projectiles are 
now discharged from submarine vessels. These vessels 
range in size up to 5,000 tons, and are capable of cruising 
292 



tcitir tr inMtr 



The Ground Covered by Shrapnel is Ellip- 
tical, ABOUT 200 X 25 Yards 



w 



o 



&- 2 SI 



O 



^ (t 




HOW MODERN WARS ARE WAGED 

across the Atlantic and back, or around the world. Some 
of them now carry in addition to torpedo tubes cannon 
of as much as six inches caliber, for use when they are 
not fully submerged^ 



MANY INVENTIONS 

War in the air comprises the use of vast dirigible balloons, 
and of swift and agile aeroplanes driven at almost incon- 




FIG.t 



FI6.Z 



Plfi.4 



FIG.9 

Types of Shells 
Fig. 1. — Shrapnel shell, packed with bullets that spread. Fig. 2. — A 
French quick-firer shell, Uke an enlarged rifle cartridge. Fig. 3. — The "Uni- 
versal" snell, combining the action of shrapnel and high explosives. Fig. 4. — 
A fuse-setting machine. 

ceivable speed. Bombs and rockets are used for signaling 
and for illuminating purposes on a scale never before known. 
Poisonous gases are employed, blown against the enemy 
through pipes from vast retorts. These gases are some- 
times asphyxiating and life-destroying, sometimes they 
are calculated to destroy the sight of the enemy, and some- 

293 



HOW MODERN WARS ARE WAGED 







>i;.ry->!'K' 



a 



o S C 



B 

a 

TO 



O 
O 




HOW MODERN WARS ARE WAGED 



times they merely cause 
a stifling or a weeping 
sufficient to prevent 
the men from fighting 
but without fatal re- 
sults. 

Armored and artil- 
lery-armed automobile 
cars have been much 
used in battle, capable 
of driving over ditches 
and through walls and 
fences, and impervious 
to all but the heaviest 
artillery fire. 

Trench warfare has 
been developed as never 
before. Instead of a 
mere ditch and em- 
bankment running 
along the front of the 
army, there is now an 
elaborate network of 
ditches covering a vast 
extent of country, with 
tunnels and dormito- 
ries, dining rooms and 
kitchens many feet 
below the surface of 
the ground. Many of 
these excavations are 
lined with concrete 
walls and are floored 




Section of Parapet in Loose Soil 




Trench Enlarged to Help Passage of Men 




mm\m 

Standing Trench not Screened 
^ - -«i - -X- - 3 - -> 

I'S FEET COMMAND ^i 

SCREENEDTRENCH 




Screened Standing Trench 




Felled Tree Obstacle, Branches 
Pointing Outward 



•w 



295 



HOW MODERN WARS ARE WAGED 

with planking, and supplied with water, heating and 
lighting systems. 

HIGH POWER RIFLES 

The old-fashioned musket went to the scrap heap long 
ago. The modern soldier is armed with a repeating rifle 
capable of killing a man at a distance of three miles. Indeed, 
the pistol of today has a longer effective range than the 
musket of a century ago. 

Machine guns of various types, some of them capable 
of discharging scores of bullets in a minute, are largely 



^M- ■■ 




<- 3. - 4<- 3_ ,yf. -3. . -:^ 
. ' • ' 

■ J r'^''! - — — — - •'• — m 

I FOOT COMMAND 




Lyinq-down Trench 



Standing Trench without Screen, but 
WITH Low Parapet for Concealment 



used; some of them so compact as to be used by a single 
man after the manner of an ordinary rifle. 



THE HOSPITAL SERVICE 

Happily, the ways and means of saving life have not 
lagged behind those of destroying it. The Japanese set 
an example to the world of sanitary and hospital efliciency 
in their war with Russia, which other nations have been 
prompt to emulate. The Red Cross and other organiza- 
tions have developed a service for the wounded that is 
comparable with the fighting efficiency of the army. In 
our Civil War more men died in hospitals from wounds than 
on the field of battle. Today the deaths in hospitals are 
insignificant in number. 
296 



HOW MODERN WARS ARE WAGED 



THE CHANGE OF UNIFORM 

The present war emphasizes more strongly than ever 
one of the ways in which we have learned the art of war 
from the lower orders of the animal creation. That is 
not in simple destructiveness, in what we call brute force. 
We have had no need to emulate the fury of the tiger or 
the shark. Human nature supplied it without effort or 
study. But in the most 
subtle adjuncts to ac- 
tual slaughter, and in 
those which most im- 
phcate some of the 
most delicate and com- 
plex scientific processes, 
we have learned much 
from quadrupeds, birds, 
reptiles, fishes and in- 
sects. 

The German army in 
the field is wearing 
what is described as the 
most effective uniform 
ever devised in the 
world. Its effective- 
ness is both offensive and defensive, and is due entirely 
to its color, which is a greenish-yellowish gray, which blends 
so perfectly with the prevailing color-tone of the landscape 
as to render the troops invisible, or at least indistinguish- 
able, even at so short a distance as half a mile or less. The 
same end was aimed at by the American, British and other 
armies some years ago in the adoption of ''khaki" colored 
cloths, but it was not attained as perfectly as by the Ger- 
mans, because that color was selected empirically, or perhaps 

297 




Emplacement for MAcraNE Gunb 



HOW MODERN WARS ARE WAGED 




Simple Gun Pit 



Sandbags 




Habtt Intrenchments for Field Artillery 




Hasty Gun Pit Protected at Front Sides 

m 



we should say tradition- 
ally, seeing what its un- 
pleasant origin was, while 
that of the German 
uniforms is the result 
of painstaking scientific 
study and experiment. 

LEARNING FROM ANIMALS 

In this, man is, of 
course, merely imitating 
the natural gifts of the 
humbler members of 
creation. Naturalists 
have long been familiar 
with the varied and im- 
portant uses of color in 
the scheme of animate 
creation, and have real- 
ized that of those uses 
the cryptic is by far the 
most common and prob- 
ably the most important 
in the struggle for exist- 
ence. Cryptic color- 
ation is employed both 
in attack and in defense, 
and is commonly asso- 
ciated with other qual- 
ities, such as speed, 
agility and strength. 
Those animals which 
are most perfectl}^ con- 



HOW MODERN WARS ARE WAGED 

cealed by their coloring generally show, when discovered, 
great speed in flight, as the rabbit; or great strength and 
fury in defense or attack, as the tiger. Pro-cryptic color- 
ing, for concealment for purposes of safety and defense, 
widely prevails among small animals and insects, and is far 



SAND BAGS fe 




Deliberate Intrenchments for Field Artillery 
WHEN Depression is Necessary for Concealment 

more common than the anti-cryptic coloring which facil- 
itates aggression and attack; since creatures which are 
preyed upon are more numerous than those which prey 
upon them. 



THE PURPOSE OF DISGUISE 

In the vast majority of cases all these colorings have 
for their object precisely the same object as the assumption 
of ''khaki" by our soldiers has: The dual object, of con- 
cealing the wearer from the enemy and of enabhng the 
wearer to get close to the prey before being perceived. 

299 



HOW MODERN WARS ARE WAGED 




Profile of a Hill 
m, c is the "military crest," though c is higher. 




GtJN Pit on Crest of a Hill 



This object has become more and more important with 
the changes in armament which have enabled fighting to 
be done efficiently at long range. When the combat was 

Q hand to hand, with 
sword or battle-axe, 
the color of armor or 
dress mattered httle. 
When the rifleman 
can kill his foe at a 
distance of two miles 
or more, it does matter 
much. So it has come 
to pass that cryptic 
coloring of uniforms is 
one of the very latest 
developments of mili- 
tary science. 

NO MORE " ARMY BLUE " 

At the present time 
the American army 
wears as a service uni- 
form cloth of an olive- 
drab hue, which is 
commonly called ''kha- 
ki" though it is really 
not of that peculiar 
color, but is much 
lighter than it. Khaki, 
which was adopted as the service color of the British army in 
and after the Boer War, had a peculiar origin. The word 
is the name of a Hindoo sect of Vishnuites, founded by 
Kil, a disciple of Krishna Das, has reference to the practice 
300 




Simple Type op Hasty Gun Pit 



HOW MODERN WARS ARE WAGED 

of those religionists of sprinkling their clothing and their 
faces with the ashes of dried and burned cowdung. The 
color of those unsavory ashes is ''khaki." It is interesting 
to observe that while it is of Indian origin, uniforms of 
that color are not worn by the native Indian army, unless 
in some regiments of the British contingent; but the 
strong and showy colors of the old style dress are adhered 
to. This is doubtless in large part because of an unwilling- 
ness of the other sects and creeds thus to identify or asso- 
ciate themselves with the Khaki sect. 

GERMAN AND FRENCH CONTRAST 

In Germany, as we have seen, the spectroscope and all 
manner of scientific devices have been brought into use to 
ascertain precisely what combination of tints conforms 
most perfectly to the general hue of the average landscape. 
Never was so much attention paid to the analysis of the 
spectrum of comet or star as to this problem in military 
cryptic coloring. Most other armies have approximated 
to the same system. Russia has an inconspicuous green- 
gray service uniform, and Italy one of a neutral bluish 
gray. France alone ignores the scheme and sticks defiantly 
to the blue tunic and red trousers of her former wars. 
Whether in so doing she has placed herself at a disadvantage 
in this war remains to be declared. Nothing to that effect 
has yet been heard. And of course it will not escape remem- 
brance that in the animal world there are, both in aggression 
and in defense, some noteworthy exceptions to the rule of 
cryptic coloring. 



301 



Chapter XXV 
WOMEN AND WAR WORK 

ffistorical Examples of Women in War — Unexampled Interest of Women 
in the Present Struggle — Women's Work for Relief of Suffering and for National 
Preparedness — Employment in Various Industries — The Scarcity of Food — 
Enormous Increase of Exports and Diminution of Supplies — Proposals for Relief — 
Conservation and Increased Production the Natural Methods — The Work of 
Housewives for the Saving of Food — A Notable Example — The President's 
Proclamation to the People — Garden Work and Kitchen Economy Urged — 
Notable Response by the Women of America to the Call of Duty. 

"THE FEMALE of the species/' wrote Kipling, "is 
more deadly than the male." In poetic fashion he proved 
his point, and with him both nature and history measurably 
agree. We are not without striking examples of the effi- 
cient heroism of women in warfare, even in actual conflict 
on the field of battle. The fancies of Spenser and Ariosto 
have justification in the facts of Boadicea and Zenobia 
and Jeanne d'Arc. Even in our own age we have the 
plain but inspiring record of ''Sergeant Molly" Pitcher, 
and we know that in the Balkan War of 1912 hundreds of 
Macedonian women marched and fought in the ranks by 
the side of their brothers and husbands. 

It would have been by no means surprising if the present 
war had at an early date summoned to service a whole 
army of vengeful Amazons, for surely never was there 
one which so unspeakably outraged womanhood in all its 
capacities. The truthful tale of German ravishings, tor- 
tures, mutilations and murders of women in Belgium and 
302 



WOMEN AND WAR WORK 

northern France, told from German soldiers' own state- 
ments and confessions, and of the wholesale deportation 
of young women and girls from those countries into Ger- 
many, to be enslaved for the vilest uses, and all this done 
not in the hot passion of battle but by the deliberate, 
cold, calculated order of the most exalted dignitaries of 
the Imperial Government — this forms a chapter in history 
beside which Cawnpore seems clean and Sioux and Apache 
massacres seem merciful. 

Promptly at the outbreak of the war in Europe the 
women of America organized themselves in vast numbers 
for two major purposes. One was for the relief of the war 
sufferers in European lands. The appeal to them to do 
this was especially strong for the reason already suggested 
— the unprecedented extent to which women and children 
were made to be direct sufferers from and victims of the 
war. The greater part of the relief work which was done 
by this country on so large a scale was due to the energy 
and devotion of women; in the Red Cross and in many 
special organizations. 

WOMEN AND PREPAREDNESS 

The other great purpose which animated the women 
of America, even before this country became involved 
in the war, was that of promoting our national preparedness. 
The nauseous doggerel of a one-time ''popular" song, 
''I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier," was righteously 
resented by the wom^en of America, who had no thought 
of suckling cowards, and in innumerable multitudes they 
thronged forward into patriotic organizations intended to 
urge universal military training and service and to provide 
the essential adjuncts thereto which women can best 
supply. 

303 



WOMEN AND WAR WORK 

WOMEN IN INDUSTRY 

Great Britain and other European countries had set the 
example of women's engaging in agricultural and other 
industries, to take the places of men who had gone to fight. 
In the cities women were successfully employed as elevator 
operators, street car conductors, and in many other occupa- 
tions, beside places in munition works and other factories 
in which men had formerly been employed. In the country 
women successfully practiced gardening and agriculture. 

In the United States women have begun to prepare 
themselves for such tasks, if it should be necessary for them 
to undertake them. Particularly have they undertaken 
farm and garden work, for of that there is actual, impera- 
tive and widespread need. At the time of the declaration 
of war it was realized that the country was on the verge 
of something almost approximating famine. Scanty crops 
here, and unprecedented demands for food supplies abroad, 
caused us to be confronted with a condition which demanded 
that in 1917 every available acre and square rod of ground 
should be made to produce the largest possible crop. 

THE INCREASE IN FOOD EXPORTS 

The enormous increase in exports of foodstuffs of various 
kinds, and the consequent depletion of our domestic reserve, 
may be realized from a review of data given by the Depart- 
ment of Commerce at Washington : 

1914 Exports. 1916 Exports. Increase. 

Bacon (lbs.) 193,964,252 579,808,786 385,844,534 

Barley (bu.) 6,644,747 27,473,160 20,828,413 

Beans and dried peas (bu.). . 314,655 1,760,383 1,445,728 

Beef, canned (lbs.) 3,464,733 50,416,690 46,951,957 

Beef, fresh (lbs.) 6,394,404 231,215,075 224,820,671 

Buckwheat (bu.) 580 515,304 514,724 

Butter (lbs.) 3,693,597 13,503,279 9,809,682 

304 



WOMEN AND WAR WORK 

1914 Exports. 1916 Exj^orts. Increase. 

Cheese (lbs.) 2,427,577 44,394,251 41,966,674 

Corn (bu.) 9,380,855 38,217,012 28,836,157 

Cornmeal (bbl.) 336,241 419,979 83,738 

Cottonseed meal (lbs.) 799,974,252 1,057,921,569 257,947,317 

Cottonseed oil (lbs.) 192,963,079 266,529,960 73,566,881 

Eggs (doz.) 16,148,849 26,396,206 10,247,357 

Hams and shoulders (lbs.)... 165,881,791 282,208,611 116,326,820 

Milk, condensed (lbs.) 16,209,082 155,734,322 139,525,240 

Mutton (lbs.) 4,685,496 5,552,918 867,422 

Oatmeal (lbs.) 15,998,286 54,748,747 38,750,461 

Oats (bu.) 1,859,949 95,921,620 94,061,671 

Peaches, dried (lbs.) 6,712,296 13,739,342 7,020,046 

Pork, canned (lbs.) 3,074,303 9,610,732 6,536,429 

Pork, fresh (lbs.) 2,668,020 63,005,524 60,337,504 

Potatoes, extra sweet (bu.) . . 1,794,073 4,017,760 2,223,687 

Raisins (lbs.) 14,766,416 75,014,753 60,248,337 

Rice (lbs.) 18,223,264 120,695,213 102,471,949 

Rye (bu.) 2,222,934 14,532,437 12,309,503 

Sahnon, canned (lbs.) 87,750,920 152,951,962 65,201,042 

Sugar, refined (lbs.) 50,895,726 1,630,150,863 1,579,255,137 

Wheat (bu.) 92,303,775 173,374,015 80,880,240 

Wheat flour (bbl.) 11,821,461 15,520,669 3,699,208 

SHORTAGE IN 1916 

Now the fact that we were able to increase our exports 
so enormously did not mean that we had correspondingly 
increased our production. It meant that there were excep- 
tionally large harvests in 1914 which left a great surplus 
on our hands, which we were able to send abroad in 1916. 
The fact is that in 1916, because of bad weather and other 
causes, our production was much decreased from the 
average of the preceding years, so that our surplus stocks 
were depleted, and the nation was confronted with potential 
scarcity of the severest kind. Here are the official figures 
showing the decrease in 1916: 

20 305 



WOMEN AND WAR WORK 

Average Production Production 

1910-1914. 1916. Shortage. Excess. 

Wheat 728,225,000 639,886,000 88,339,000 

Corn 2,732,457,000 2,583,241,000 149,216,000 

Oats 1,157,961,000 1,251,992,000 94,031,000 

Barley 186,208,000 180,927,000 5,281,000 

Rye 37,568,000 47,383,000 9,815,000 

Buckwheat 17,022,000 11,840,000 5,182,000 

Rice 24,378,000 41,982,000 17,604,000 

Potatoes 360,772,000 285,437,000 75,335,000 

There was also a marked decrease in the quantity of 
food supplies in cold storage warehouses throughout the 
United States, as these figures show: ' 

March 1, 
1917. 

Cheese, American (lbs.) 9,499,466 

Eggs, eases (30 doz.) 4,759 

Lard (lbs.) 76,389,599 

Lamb and mutton (lbs.) 4,007,465 

Frozen pork (lbs.) 55,926,367 

PROPOSALS FOR RELIEF 

This undoubtedly serious state of affairs called for 
prompt action for relief, and various plans were proposed. 
Some urged an embargo on foodstuffs, but they were 
chiefly German sympathizers or Germans themselves in 
disguise. It was obvious that such a procedure would 
mean ruin to the Allies and the triumph of Germany; and 
that was not to be thought of, at any rate after we had 
ourselves entered the war as the opponent of Germany 
and as an ally of the Allies. 

Others suggested government seizure, control and dis- 
tribution of all supphes of food; but that was obviously 
306 



March 1, 


Per Cent 


1916. 


Decrease. 


13,373,424 


29.3 


34,761 


86.3 


111,897,182 


31.7 


5,812,144 


31.1 


88,603,621 


36.9 



WOMEN AND WAR WORK 

an extreme measure which should be resorted to only in 
case of the most dire necessity. 

The two measures which were most obvious, most natural, 
and most desirable, and which, indeed, gave greatest 
promise of being effective, were these: that we should 
economically conserve our existing supplies and that we 
should seek to increase our products to the greatest possible 
degree; and these were measures in which the active 
co-operation of women was indispensable. 

THE CONSERVATION OF FOOD 

The Secretary of Agriculture was recently quoted as 
saying that American families had been wasting $700,000,- 
000 worth of food in their kitchens every year. Thoughtful 
observers and investigators were inclined to think that he 
underestimated rather than overestimated the amount. 
The complaint was not that Americans ate too much, or 
too good, food, but that they wasted too much. They 
had wasteful methods of purchasing, of cooking, and of 
serving, and they threw too much of the perfectly good 
surplus from their meals into the garbage cans instead of 
utilizing it for subsequent meals. It was a phase of our 
characteristic and proverbial American profligacy — the 
same profligacy in resources which caused more first-class 
lumber to be destroyed in the cutting and by forest fires 
than was sent to market. 

This was obviously an evil to be corrected chiefly by the 
women, who were the housekeepers and cooks, and who 
could therefore check such waste. How readily a reform 
in that respect could be effected was strikingly shown in 
New York City, where in the week following an appeal 
by the Mayor for greater carefulness in the use of food, 
there was a very large percentage of reduction of the number 

307 



WOMEN AND WAR WORK 

of tons of garbage collected. That simply meant that so 
many tons of perfectly good food had been saved for sub- 
sequent meals instead of being thrown away, and also 
that housekeepers had gauged their requirements more 
accurately and had thus had smaller surpluses to dispose of. 

WORK ON THE FARMS 

The need of increasing the productiveness of our farms 
was so pressing that President Wilson on April 14th issued 
a special address to the people of the nation on the subject, 
in which he said : 

''I take the Hberty of addressing this word to the farmers 
of the country and to all who work on the farms: The 
supreme need of our own nation and of the nations with 
which we are co-operating is an abundance of supplies, 
and especially of foodstuffs. The importance of an ade- 
quate food supply, especially for the present year, is super- 
lative. Without abundant food, ahke for the armies and 
the peoples now at war, the whole great enterprise upon 
which we have embarked will break down and fail. The 
world's food reserves are low. Not only during the present 
emergency, but for some time after peace shall have come, 
both our own people and a large proportion of the people 
of Europe must rely upon the harvests in America. 

''Upon the farmers of this country, therefore, in large 
measure rests the fate of the war and the fate of the nations. 
May the nation not count upon them to omit no step that 
will increase the production of their land or that will bring 
about the most effectual co-operation in the sale and dis- 
tribution of their products? The time is short. It is 
of the most imperative importance that everything possible 
be done, and done immediately, to make sure of large 
harvests. I call upon young men and old alike and upon 
308 



WOMEN AND WAR WORK 

the able-bodied boys of the land to accept and act upon 
this duty — to turn in hosts to the farms and make certain 
that no pains and no labor is lacking in this great matter. 

THE GARDEN AND THE KITCHEN 

^'Let me suggest, also, that every one who creates or 
cultivates a garden helps, and helps greatly, to solve the 
problem of the feeding of the nations; and that every 
housewife who practices strict economy puts herself in 
the ranks of those who serve the nation. This is the time 
for America to correct her unpardonable fault of waste- 
fulness and extravagance. Let every man and every 
woman assume the duty of careful, provident use and expen- 
diture as a public duty, as a dictate of patriotism which 
no one can now expect ever to be excused or forgiven for 
ignoring." 

SPECIAL APPEAL TO WOMEN 

To this the Secretary of Agriculture added this appeal : 
''Every woman can render important service to the 
nation in its present emergency. She need not leave her 
home nor abandon her home duties to help the armed 
forces. She can help to feed and clothe our armies, and 
help to supply food to those beyond the seas, by practicing 
effective thrift in her own household. 

''Every ounce of food the housewife saves — all food which 
she or her children produce and preserve — every garment 
which repair makes it unnecessary to replace — all lessen 
tke draft on the insufficient world suppUes. 

MUST NOT WASTE FOOD 

"To save food the housewife must learn to plan economi- 
cal and properly balanced meals, which, while nourishing 
each m^ember of the family properly, do not encourage 

309 



WOMEN AND WAR WORK 

overeating or offer excessive and wasteful variety. It is 
her duty to protect food from spoilage by heat, dirt, mice 
or insects; she must acquire the cuHnary ability to utilize 
every bit of edible food that comes into her home; she 
must learn to use such foods as vegetables, beans, peas 
and milk products as partial substitutes for meat, and 
she must see that nothing nutritious is wasted. 

"Waste in any household may seem to be insignificant, 
but if only a single ounce of edible food, on the average, 
is allowed to spoil or to be thrown away in each of our 
20,000,000 homes, over 1,300,000 pounds of material would 
be wasted each day. It takes the fruit of many acres and 
the work of many people, to raise, prepare and distribute 
464,000,000 pounds of food a year. Every ounce of food 
thrown away, therefore, tends also to waste the labor of 
an army of busy citizens. 

URGED TO DROP FASHION 

''Clothing is largely an agricultural product, and repre- 
sents the results of labor on the sheep ranges, in cotton 
fields and in mills and factories. Whenever a useful gar- 
ment is needlessly discarded material needed to keep some 
one warm or dry may be consumed merely to gratify a 
passing fancy. Women would do well to look upon clothing 
at this time more particularly from the utilitarian point of 
view. 

ENCOURAGE THRIFT! 

''While all honor is due the women who leave their 
homes to nurse and care for those wounded in battle, no 
woman should feel that because she does not wear a nurse's 
uniform she is absolved from patriotic service. The home 
women of the country, if they will give their minds fully 
310 



WOMEN AND WAR WORK 

to this vital subject of food conservation and train them- 
selves in household thrift, can make of the housewife's 
apron a uniform of national significance. 

"Demonstrate thrift in your homes and encourage thrift 
among your neighbors. 

''Make saving rather than spending your social standard. 

"Make economy fashionable lest it become obligatory." 

The response of the American people, and particularly 
of American women, to this appeal was prompt and grati- 
fying. Women not merely practiced economy in the 
kitchens, but thousands of them undertook the cultivation 
of gardens, while the men, released from that task, gave 
themselves to the heavier farm*, work. It was estimated 
that in Great Britain 2,000,000 women were doing work 
formerly done by men. It seems not unlikely that in the 
United States almost as large a proportion of women are 
at least engaging in special and unaccustomed labor of 
some kind in order to "do their bit" toward sustaining 
the nation and assuring its victory in the great war. 



311 



Chapter XXVI 
ARMY AND NAVY ORGANIZATION 

Origin and Development of Our Military Arm — The Present Chief Officers — 
The Secretary of War and General Staff — Various Departments of the Army — 
The Infantry Organization — How the Cavalry is Organized — The Artillery 
Service — The Militia, Organized and Unorganized — Military Schools and Train- 
ing Camps — The American Navy — Composition of a Standard Fleet — Organiza- 
tion of the Navy Department — Its Various Bureaus — The Naval Militia — The 
Marines, the "Soldiers of the Sea." 

"ARMS AND THE MAN!" The army and navy are, 
after aU, the center of interest in time of war. It is they that 
do the actual fighting. Let us see how they are composed, 
organized, commanded, and employed. 

The army of the United States was created by the Conti- 
nental Congress, and at the close of the Revolution its 
strength w^as fixed at one regiment of infantry of twelve 
companies, and one regiment of artillery of four companies, 
a grand total of 1,216 officers and men. The next year, 1791, 
an additional infantry regiment of 900 men was authorized. 
In 1798 a provisional force of 10,000 was raised in view 
of the danger of war with France, but it was disbanded two 
years later. Another such force was raised for the War of 
1812 and was"disbanded at its close. A regiment of dragoons 
was authorized in 1833, and two more in 1836, and ten years 
later, at the outbreak of the Mexican war, the army con- 
tained 7,244 men. During that war it was increased to 
20,000, but at the end of the war it was reduced to its former 
size, with the addition of one regiment of mounted rifles. 
Two regiments of infantry and two of cavalry were added in 
312^ 



ARMY AND NAVY ORGANIZATION 

1855, and at the outbreak of the Civil War the army had a 
line strength of 12,931 officers and men, and a total in all 
departments of 16,367. 

The greatest increase of the regular army in the Civil War 
was on January 1, 1863, when the total number was 25,463. 
There was a gradual decline until at the end of the war the 
number was 21,669. In August, 1876, Congress fixed its 
maximum strength at 25,000 enlisted men. On January 1, 
1893, it contained 28,502 officers and men. At the beginning 
of the European war, in the summer of 1914, it consisted of 
4,701 officers and 87,781 men. Deducting the quartermaster 
and hospital corps, the coast artillery, practically stationary 
in coast defense works, and some others, there remained a 
mobile army, for field work, of 2,935 officers and 51,446 men. 
In the navy there were 52,667 enlisted men. The authorized 
strength of the army was considerably greater than the 
actual strength, many of the organizations being below their 
full strength. 

ARMY DEPARTMENTS AND OFFICERS 

For many years before our war with Germany the Conti- 
nental United States had been divided into four military 
departments, the Eastern, Central, Southern and Western, 
with headquarters respectively at New York, Chicago, Fort 
Sam Houston (Texas), and San Francisco. But in March, 
1917, just on the verge of our entry into war, the President 
ordered the division of the Eastern Department into three, 
known as the Eastern, Northeastern and Southeastern, with 
headquarters respectively at New York, Boston and 
Charleston, S. C, thus making six in aU. 

At that time the army was under the command of the fol- 
lowing general officers, the dates affixed to their names being 
those on which they were promoted to their respective ranks: 

313 



ARMY AND NAVY ORGANIZATION 

MAJ0R-GENERA.L8 

Wood, Leonard Aug. 8, 1903 

Bell, J. FrankUn Jan. 3, 1907 

Barry, Thomas H April 29, 1908 

Funston, Frederick Nov. 17, 1914 

Scott, Hugh L April 30, 1915 

Bliss, Tasker H Nov. 20, 1913 

Pershing, John J Sept. 25, 1916 

BRIGADIER-GENERALS 

Edwards, Clarence R May 12, 1912 

Parker, James Feb. 12, 1913 

Liggett, Hunter Feb. 12, 1913 

Davis, Thomas F May 16, 1913 

Bailey, Charles J Oct. 10, 1913 

Bell, George, Jr July 17, 1914 

Greene, Henry A Nov. 19, 1914 

Mann, WiUiam A Jan. 20, 1915 

Strong, Frederick S .' May 4, 1915 

Hodges, Harry F Mar. 4, 1915 

Morrison, John F Nov. 20, 1915 

Plummer, Edward H July 1, 1916 

Townsley, Clarence P July 1, 1916 

Morton, Charles G July 14, 1916 

Ruckman, John W July 20, 1916 

Sibert, William L Mar. 4, 1916 

Swift, Eben Sept. 29, 1916 

French, Francis H Sept. 30, 1916 

Greble, Edwin St. J Oct. 13, 1916 

Treat, Charles G Oct. 18, 1916 

The General Staff Corps comprised a large number of 
colonels, lieutenant-colonels, majors and captains, and the 
following general officers; the dates given being those of 
their appointments to the corps: 

MAJOR-GENERAL, CHIEF OF STAFF 

Scott, Hugh L Nov. 17, 1914 

314 



ARMY AND NAVY ORGANIZATION 

Major-Generals 

Bliss, Tasker H Feb. 15, 1915 

Weaver, Erasmus M. (Chief of Coast Artil- 
lery) Mar. 15, 1911 

Brigadier-General 
Mann, William A. (Chief of Militia Bureau) Oct. 26, 1916 

The adjutant-general, with rank of brigadier-general, was 
Henry P. McCain; the inspector-general, with rank of briga- 
dier-general, was John L. Chamberlain; the judge advocate- 
general, with rank of brigadier-general, was Enoch H. Crow- 
der; the quartermaster-general, with rank of major-general, 
was Henry G. Sharpe; the surgeon-general, with rank of 
major-general, was William C. Gorgas; the chief of engineers, 
with rank of brigadier-general, was William M. Black; the 
chief of ordnance, with rank of brigadier-general, was Wil- 
liam Crozier; the chief signal officer, with rank of brigadier- 
general, was George 0. Squier; and the chief of the Bureau 
of Insular Affairs, with rank of brigadier-general, was Frank 
Mclntyre. 

OUR MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT 

Under the Constitution of the United States the President 
is the commander-in-chief of the army. The immediate 
direction of the War Department is vested in a secretary of 
war, the second member of the Cabinet, who is responsible 
solely to the President. Under him is an assistant secretary, 
who takes his place in his absence. In the absence of both 
the secretary and the assistant, the functions of the place 
are assumed by the chief of staff for not more than thirty 
days, by direction of the President. 

The General Staff was created by Act of Congress in Feb- 
ruary, 1903, on the recommendation of Elihu Root, then 

315 



ARMY AND NAVY ORGANIZATION 

secretary of war. It is the expert military advisory board 
to the President and the Secretary' of War. Its members 
are employed in the study of mihtary problems, the prepara- 
tion of plans for the national defense, the utilization of the 
various army organizations in time of war, etc. It is ulti- 
mately, by July 1, 1920, to consist of fifty-five officers. 

VARIOUS ARMY DEPARTMENTS 

The Adjutant-General's Department is the medium 
through which all^orders of the War Department are issued, 
and all regulations for the control of the army; in which all 
records are kept; and through which all correspondence is 
conducted. 

The Inspector-General's Department is charged with the 
careful inspection of all parts of the army, the Military 
Academy, hospitals, transports, cemeteries, and in fact 
every detail of the entire military establishment, and of 
reporting upon their condition and making recommendations 
for their maintenance and improvement.- • 

The Judge Advocate-General's Department is the law 
bureau of the military estabhshment, and has custody and 
supervision of the records of all general courts- martial, 
courts of inquiry and military commissions, and also of the 
titles of land held by the War Department. 

The Quartermaster-General's Department has charge of 
all barracks, storehouses and other buildings; ships, rail- 
roads and transportation generally; horses, mules, wagons, 
etc.; clothing and camp and garrison equipment; food and 
forage; and the distribution of funds for payment of the 
army. 

The Surgeon-General's Department is the medical corps 
of the army, having'charge of^sanitation, hospitals, transpor- 
tation and care of the sick and wounded, etc. Its members 
316 



ARMY AND NAVY ORGANIZATION 

are unarmed, and are protected from harm by international 
agreement. 

The Engineering Corps is charged with surveying sites for 
camps and fortifications and the construction of defensive 
works, the laying out and making of roads, the erection of 
buildings, bridges, piers, etc., and river and harbor improve- 
ments. 

The Ordnance Department has the task of providing all 
the munitions of war, from pistols and rifles to the largest 
cannon, tools, machinery, harness and other equipments. 
It also provides the small arms for the Navy Department. 
It has, of course, charge of the arsenals. 

The Signal Corps, under the chief signal officer, constructs, 
maintains and operates all telegraph and cable Hues, tele- 
phones, radiographic plants, hehographs, and all other means 
of communication. 

The Bureau of Insular Affairs has jurisdiction over Porto 
Rico and the Phihppines. 

INFANTRY ORGANIZATION 

The great body of an army consists of infantry. In the 
United States army an infantry regiment is composed as 
follows, when its ranks are full: 

One colonel, 1 lieutenant-colonel, 4 medical officers, 
and 1 chaplain; a headquarters company, including the 
band, color sergeants, etc., numbering 59; a machine gun 
company, of 57; a supply company, comprising wagoners, 
numbering 39; and three battalions of four companies each. 
The battalions are numbered first, second and third. The 
companies are designated by the letters of the alphabet, 
A, B, C and D companies being in the first, E, F, G and H 
in the second, and I, K, L and M in the third battahon. 
Each company has a captain, first heutenant, second lieu- 

317 



ARMY AND NAVY ORGANIZATION 



Column 



IT 

1 MOO 

L 






10 %*• a'o 



I 

I 

I 



soo 
eoo 



/*^| 



laoo 

J 



1 1t C«*«lrT* tM4 on* 



DMMlufmt tatiMvi 



HTrewCtnkr 



lu b/. Iw I B>. 



TweC«» Caj1a*«r» 



MU.u4DO.Hdv>. 



tenant, first sergeant, mess ser- 
geant, supply sergeant, 6 sergeants, 
11 corporals, 2 cooks, 2 buglers, 
1 mechanic, 19 first-class privates, 
and 56 privates, making 103 in 
all. The entire regiment thus 
contains 1,404 officers and men. 
That is the peace footing.] In 
time of war there are added 21 to 
the machine gun company, and 
50 to each of the twelve com- 
panies in the battalions, or 221, 
raising the war strength of a reg- 
iment to 1,625. 

Each infantryman carries a 
pack, rifle, ammunition and ra- 
tions, weighing in all about forty- 
five pounds. 

The various units of an army 
are as follows, with their compo- 
sition and commander: Squad, 
composed of 8 men, commanded 
by a corporal; platoon, 40 to 50 
men, lieutenant or sergeant; com_ 
pany, 2 to 4 platoons, captain. 



StooItT™!.— ***0 



r<wFr.MM<n>)u>i 



MAIN BODY * 



fUM Arfflt.n' ^lod. 



C A, M«n.T Conn, 



Of eoo I 



On. Ambal.Bc. Co. 




r.ntn / On* Anibal|B 
>o/ (-«0 350/ I 



^0 9V> / lOOO 



)iiBO leoM j?9eO 
9 



This Diagram, Drawn to Scale, Shows the Length op jRoad Occupied 
BY the Various Units of a Division of 20,000 Men on the March in the 
Presence of the Enemy 



318 



ARMY AND NAVY ORGANIZATION 

battalion, 4 companies, major; regiment, 3 battalions, col- 
onel; brigade, 3 regiments, brigadier-general; division, 3 
brigades, major-general; army corps, 2 or more divisions, 
lieutenant-general; army, 2 or more army corps, general. 

CAVALRY ORGANIZATION 

A cavalry regiment has a colonel, lieutenant-colonel, 
chaplain,. 4 medical officers and 2 veterinarians; a head- 
quarters troop of 55, raised to 86 in war; a machine gun 
troop of 74, raised to 95 in war; a supply troop of 50, raised 
to 54 in war; and three squadrons of four troops each, the 
squadrons and .troops being designated by numbers and let- 
ters corresponding with those of battalions and companies 
of infantry. Each squadron is commanded by a major and 
each troop by a captain. Each troop comprises 73 officers 
and men, increased to 108 in war. 

Thus the peace strength of a cavalry regiment when its 
ranks are full is 1,070 and its war strength 1,546 officers and 
men. 

THE ARTILLERY SERVICE 

The field artillery includes mountain, hght, horse and 
heavy artillery. Each regiment consists of six batteries, 
with guns or howitzers all of the same or of different calibers. 
The standard heavy field artillery of our army consists of 
4.7-inch guns and 6-inch howitzers. We have no monster 
siege howitzers such as Germany has been so effectively 
using. The hght artillery uses 3-inch guns and 3.8-inch 
howitzers. Larger pieces have been designed and are in 
course of manufacture. 

The coast artillery has both fixed and movable batteries, 
using guns of from 3 to 12 inches and mortars of 12*inches 
caUber. Guns of 14 and 16 inches have been designed, and 

319 



A H M \ A N D N A V Y O R G A X I Z A T I O X 

a few made. The pemvan^it fxMtiticiations at the principal 
port$ ««npri<^ direet fiiv rifies, la«^^' mounted on di<«iv 
p^sarin^: carnages: nK^nai^ tor high angle lirv: and :j^ub- 
marizie mines for unde^ water attack upon hostile ves!S>el^ 

THE MIUTIA 

Tbe miliua oon5dsTi> of all the sble-bodied maio oitiiens of 
tfce BaitkHi beiwven the ages of eighteen and fort y-tiw. That 
was the purport <rf the lii^t militia law enaeted by Congress?, 
in 17^, wfcich^nxjuired everx* such citiien to be eiin>lled. 
aiKl T nided at his own expense with anns, anmiuni- 

tkm, V...... ..:; and other e>i?ential equi^^ient. This law was 

nevw pioperij' «iforotxi, and soon fell into desuetude, and 
tlie l«m *'mil::ia " came to be applied solely to thos^ mem- 
bers of the militia who oiganiied themselves into regimentsi. 
technically known as the National Guard. Each state had 
it;s own national guard s\^tem. it^ go\-emor being comman- 
d»4n-chief, and these troops were used principally for 
s«ippi>e!$3Uig serious riots^ etc., within their respecti\'e 
state& 

An act c^ Congress in June, 1916. p^o^-ided for a radical 
iiici«fede and reorganiratKA of this organiied militia. It was 
to be incnesased in numbers fnoan about IIO.CW) to 42o.OOO. 
and was to be **fed«:ali«ed" as a j>art of the land forces of 
the nam^. It was placed under the jurisdiction of the MiK- 
tia Bureau erf the W^ir Department : and while in ordinary 
times it was to remain as before under the command <rf the 
state governors, as state tioc^, when drafted into the fed- 
eral service, as it might be at any time, it was to lose ent:^ ' 
its character as state troops and pass entirely under :-.. 
din?ction of the War Depanmem. for use not onh* in other 
states than those to which it bdonsed but also, if desired. 
in fop^n landa. 



ARMY AND NAVY ORGANIZATION 

OUR MILITARY SCHOOLS 

The military fistablishment of the United States comprises 
an elaborate educational system. There is the Military 
Academy, at West Point, which as a school of engineering 
and science ranks among the best colleges in the world. 
There are at all military posts schools for the general instruc- 
tion of enlisted men, and schools for the instruction of the 
officers in matters appertaining to their duties. Then there 
are nearly a score of service schools of different kinds, includ- 
ing the Army War College, the Army Staff College, the 
Coast Artillery School, the Engineer School, the Mounted 
Service School, the Arm.y Medical School, the Army Signal 
School, the Army School of the Line, the School for Bakers 
and Cooks, the Aimy Field Engineer School, the School of 
Fire for Field Artillery, the School of Musketry, and the 
Signal Corps Aviation School. 

In addition to these, there are numerous colleges and pre- 
paratory schools throughout the country to which army 
officers are detailed as military instructors. 

CAMPS OF INSTRUCTION 

A system of camps for training and instruction was estab- 
lished in 1913, through the efforts of General Leonard Wood, 
for the benefit of college students and other civiHans who 
wished to become practically familiar with military affairs. 
A httle later that year a number of college presidents and 
camp students formed the Society of the National Reserve 
Corps, to promote the system of universal mihtary training. 
As a result several camps of instruction were established, the 
most notable being that for business men at Plattsburgh, 
N. Y. 

Nor were the women backward. A National Service 
School, attended by hundreds of young women, was 

21 321 



ARMY AND NAVY ORGANIZATION 

opened at Chevy Chase, near Washington, D. C, and the 
next year this was imitated in various other places. 

Immediately after the declaration of war with Germany, 
a bill was introduced into Congress for the establishment of 
more than a dozen camps in various parts of the country 
for the instruction and training of officers for the army of 
500,000 men which it was purposed to create. 

THE AMERICAN NAVY 

The navy of the United States was established by the 
Continental Congress in 1775, as a means of protecting the 
coasts of the insurgent colonies from the ravages of British 
cruisers. Its first commander-in-chief was Esek Hopkins, 
but its chief founder was John Paul Jones. Its history down 
to recent years presents a record of discouragement and 
neglect, illuminated with many splendid deeds achieved not 
because of but in spite of the naval policy of the government. 

Elsewhere in this volume is given an account of the 
present strength of the navy. The bulk of it is divided into 
three active fleets, each under a commander-in-chief with the 
nominal rank of admiral but the real rank of rear-admiral. 
One is the Atlantic Fleet, whose field of operations com- 
prises the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean 
Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and other tributary waters. 
Another is the Pacific Fleet, which guards the western coasts 
of North, Central and South'America, Alaska, Hawaii and 
Samoa. The third is the Asiatic Fleet, which serves in the 
western part of the Pacific Ocean, the China Seas, the Indian 
Ocean and the East Indies. 

FLEET ORGANIZATION 

Ships of the navy which are in commission are divided 
among three classes or conditions. Those in full commission 

322 



ARMY AND NAVY ORGANIZATION 

are completely manned and officered, and are in all respects 
ready for immediate service. Those in reserve are laid up at 
a navy yard or elsewhere, practically ready for service 
excepting that their crews are of reduced strength and must 
be increased before service. Those in ordinary are thus laid 
up with only enough officers and men aboard to serve as 
caretakers. 

In time of peace a fleet consists of one battleship used as 
the flagship of the commander-in-chief; four divisions con- 
taining four battleships each; several divisions of armored 
cruisers; and various auxihary and supply ships, and when 
practicable flotillas of torpedo boats, destroyers, and sub- 
marines. 

The entire naval estabhshment is under the President, as 
commander-in-chief, and, after him, under the Secretary of 
the Navy. The officers who serve on the ships are of two 
kinds, Hne and staff. The officers of the line are, in order 
of rank: The admiral of the navy, an office not always filled; 
vice-admirals, offices also not always filled; rear-admirals, 
captains, commanders, lieutenant-commanders, lieutenants, 
lieutenants of junior grade, and ensigns. The staff officers 
are medical, dental and pay officers, chaplains, professors 
of mathematics, naval constructors and civil engineers. 
Midshipmen, graduated from the Naval Academy, are 
ranked as officers of the line. 

THE NAVY DEPARTMENT 

The Secretary of the Navy is the head of the Navy 
Department. He has an assistant secretary and a chief 
clerk. In the absence of both the secretary andlthe assistant 
secretary, the chief of naval operations is acting head of the 
department. 

The chief of naval operations is a rear-admiral, ranking as 

323 



ARMY AND NAVY ORGANIZATION 

admiral, and he is charged with the operations of the fleet 
and with the preparation of it for use in war. 

The General Board corresponds with the General Staff 
of the army, and is composed of the admiral of the navy, 
the chief of naval operations, the commandant of the Marine 
Corps, the director of naval intelligence, the president of the 
Naval War College, and such other officers as the Secretary 
of the Navy may choose. 

The judge advocate-general corresponds with the officer 
of the same title in the army. 

The Bureau of Yards and Docks has jurisdiction over all 
navy yards and naval stations, buildings and other public 
works of the department. 

The Bureau of Navigation has charge of the training and 
education of officers and men and their enlistment and assign- 
ment to duty; of the Naval Academy and other schools; 
and of all records of service. 

The Bureau of Ordnance has to do with all arms 
and ammunition, including torpedoes, and with those 
portions of ships directly concerned with arms and mu- 
nitions. 

The Bureau of Construction and Repair has to do with the 
designing of all ships, and the construction of all that are 
built in the government's own navy yards; with the super- 
vision and inspection of all that are built by private contract; 
and with alterations and repairs. 

The Bureau of Steam Engineering has under its care all 
the engines for the propulsion of vessels, electrical equip- 
ment, fuel, etc. 

The Bureau of Supplies and Accounts is the fiscal or busi- 
ness agency of the department. 

The Bureau of Medicine and Surgery corresponds with the 
Medical Corps of the army. 
324 



ARMY AND NAVY ORGANIZATION 

THE NAVAL MILITIA 

The Naval Militia^was first organized ,n Massachusetts, 
in 1890, as a part of the national guard of that state. There 
are now more than a score of such organizations, in as many 
states, with nearly 600 oflicers and more than 8,000 enlisted 
men. The Navy Department lends ships for the practice 
of the mihtia, and Congress appropriates money for arms 
and equipment. There is a National Naval Militia Board, 
consisting of five officers of the Naval Militia, representing 
the various lake and seacoast regions of the United States, 
which meets at Washington for general advice and direction 
of the Naval Militia. 

In the summer of 1916 more than 2,000 members of the 
Naval Mihtia went on a two weeks' practice cruise, on nine 
battleships of the reserve fleet. The mihtia has also organ- 
ized aeronautic sections. 

THE MARINES 

The Marine Corps has been described as the soldiers of 
the sea. It dates from November 10, 1775, and has a record 
of efficient service not surpassed if equaled by that of any 
other part of the navy or army. Its members have the train- 
ing of infantry soldiers, but their service is rendered in con- 
nection with the navy. They form the landing parties 
which are occasionally sent ashore in foreign lands for the 
protection of American lives and property, and they do a 
vast variety of work, both on ship and ashore. 

The Revenue Cutter Service and the Life Saving Service 
are normally under the jurisdiction of the Treasury Depart- 
ment, but by an act of Congress in 1915 they were consoh- 
dated into the United States Coast Guard, and were placed 
in time of emergency at the command of the Secretary of 
the Navy. 

325 



ARMY AND NAVY ORGANIZATION 

Such, in brief, is the organization of the two great services 
upon which the nation depends for protection and for 
victory in war. 

UNITED STATES ARMY TABLE 
Rank Duties 

Major-General Commands a Field Army or a Division. 

Brigadier-General Commands Brigade (4,000 rifles) . 

Colonel Commands Regiment (1,500 rifles). 

Lieutenant-Colonel Assistant to Colonel, commands Regiment iu his 

absence. 

Major Commands Battalion (400 rifles). 

Captain Commands Company (100 rifles). 

First Lieutenant Commands Platoon (24 to 32 rifles) and assists Captain. 

Second Lieutenant Commands Platoon (24 to 32 rifles) and assists Captain. 

First Sergeant Commands Platoon (24 to 32 rifles), acts as file closer 

and commands Company in absence of OflBcers. 

Sergeant Assists Officers and First Sergeant. 

Corporal Commands Squad (8 rifles). 

Private Performs duties assigned by Officers. 

UNITED STATES NAVY TABLE 
Rank Duties 

Admiral Chief of Operations, or Commander of Atlantic, Pacific 

or Asiatic Fleet. 
Vice-Admiral Second in command of Atlantic, Pacific or Asiatic 

Fleet. 
Rear- Admiral Command of a Division of a Fleet or Department 

Duty. J> 

Captain Commander of Battleship or Cruiser. 

Commander In command of second or third-class ships or special 

duty on board first-class ship. 
Lieutenant-Commander. . , . .Commands fourth-class ship or special duty. 
Lieutenant Assigned to command of a department of first-class 

ship or subordinate duty on smaller ship. 
Lieutenant (Junior Grade) . . . Junior Officer assigned to special duty. 

Ensign Junior Officer assigned to special duty. 

Midshipman Naval Academy Student. 

Chief Warrant Officer In charge of department of ship. jj 

Warrant Officer In charge of department of ship. 4| 

Mate In charge of special department of ship. 

Chief Petty Officer In charge of small department. 

Petty Officer, first class In charge of group of seamen or special duty. 

Petty Officer, second class . . . Same as first class. 
Petty Officer, third class .... Same as first class. 

Seaman, first class Performs duties assigned by Officers. 

Seaman, second class Performs duties assigned by Officers. 

Seaman, third class Performs duties assigned by Officers. 



326 



Chaptee XXVII 
UNIVERSAL MILITARY SERVICE 

No "Peace at Any Price" Advocates Among the Founders of the Republic — 
The Volunteer System Discredited and Repudiated at the Very Beginning and 
Again in Every War We Have Ever Waged — Washington's Condemnation of the 
Volunteer Mihtia System — Its Disastrous Effects in the Revolution — Jefferson's 
Earnest Advocacy of Universal Mihtary Training and Service — Disgraceful 
Results of the MiUtia System in the War of 1812 — Why the Traditional Policy 
of Washington and Jefferson Was Abandoned — Universal Service the True Demo- 
cratic System — Examples in Switzerland and Other RepubUcs — Advantages 
of the System for the United States — The Duty of the Citizen to Serve the State 
in Either Peace or War. 

"I DIDN'T Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier" was not a 
popular song among the founders of the American Republic. 
The mothers of 1776 were proud and glad with a fearful 
gladness to buckle sword-belts about their sons and send 
them forth to battle with their blessing. The statesmen 
who resisted the misgovernment of the Mother Country 
and pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred 
honor to the achievement and maintenance of our national 
independence, were not behevers in ''peace at any price." 
The true spirit of America, the only spirit that could have 
made America a nation, the only spirit that can be worthy 
of the successors of those devoted men, was voiced in 
Henry's famiHar words: ''Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, 
as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? 
Forbid it. Almighty God!" That was and is the "tradi- 
tional spirit" of America. 

Washington, addressing the Congress of the young 
republic, on January 8, 1790, said: "To be prepared for 
war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace." 

3?7 



UNIVERSAL MILITARY SERVICE 

FAILURE OF UNTRAINED VOLUNTEERS 

Washington's meaning was that there should be universal 
military training and universal military service. He 
spoke from bitter personal experience. Again and again 
he testified, in the Revolution, in the ''times that tried 
men's souls," that the greatest difficult}^ with which he 
had to contend was not the British Government, nor the 
German levies. No: but the untrained militia of which 
Jiis army was so largely composed. Again and again he 
declared that he would actually be better off and have a 
stronger army without them. That was not because 
they were not good patriots and brave men. No; but 
because they were not trained soldiers. Loyalty and 
valor are not sufficient. There must be knowledge of 
arms and of tactics; there must be discipline and 
obedience; there must be such familiarity with war as 
will assure steadiness of nerves in the presence of the 
enemy; there must be the physical training which will 
enable men to endure the fatigues of campaign and 
battle. Without these qualities troops are ineffective, 
and to send them into battle is to imperil them far more 
than the enemy. 

This latter point was repeatedly emphasized by Wash- 
ington, who declared that it was nothing short of criminal 
to send untrained militiamen into battle against dis- 
ciplined and expert soldiers. The same conviction 
was expressed by Washington's close friend and com- 
rade in arms, ''Light Horse Harry" Lee, when he 
said: "That government is a murderer of its citizens 
which sends them to the field uninformed and un- 
taught, where they are to meet men of the same age 
and strength, mechanized by education and discipline 
for battle." 
328 



UNIVERSAL MILITARY SERVICE 

THE POLICY OF WASHINGTON 

Washington left us in no doubt as to what he meant 
by being prepared for war. He meant compulsory universal 
military training and compulsory universal military service. 
This was made clear at the very beginning of his adminis- 
tration. It was in his first annual message or address 
to Congress, and at the beginning of that address, that 
he uttered the words already quoted. He said: 

''Among the many interesting objects which will engage 
your attention that of providing for the common defense 
will merit particular regard. To be prepared for war is 
one of the most effectual means of preserving peace. A 
free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined; to 
which end a uniform and well-digested plan is requisite; and 
their safety and interest require that they should promote 
such manufactories as tend to render them independent of 
others for essential, particularly military, supplies." 

There was the whole gospel of preparedness and effi- 
ciency epitomized in a single sentence. But he did not 
stop with that. So important did this man — who was 
first in peace as well as in war — consider the project of 
universal preparation and service that only thirteen days 
later he sent to Congress a special message on the subject, 
urging immediate action and presenting a plan for adoption. 
This plan was Washington's own, though he modestly 
gave credit for it to his Secretary of War, General Knox. 
It provided that all able-bodied male citizens, with certain 
specified exemptions for cause, should be enrolled by con- 
scription for military duty. They were to be divided into 
three classes. Those from 18 to 20 years of age were to 
form the advanced corps, or first line of battle; those 
from 21 to 45 were to form the main corps; and those 
from 45 to 60 were to form the reserve. 

329 



UNIVERSAL MILITARY SERVICE 

SERVICE ESSENTIAL TO CITIZENSHIP 

It was an integral and essential part of this plan that 
service should be a prerequisite of complete citizenship. 
Unless specially exempted for cause, no man was to be 
permitted to vote or hold office of any kind unless he had 
served his term with the colors. Having served in the 
advanced corps for three years, on attaining the age of 
twenty-one the young man was to be received into full 
citizenship; but if he had not thus served, he was to be 
excluded from office and from the polls. This was Wash- 
ington's conception of the functions of the advanced 
corps : 

''The advanced corps are designed not only as a school 
in which the youth of the United States are to be instructed 
in the art of war, but they are, in all cases of exigence, 
to serve as an actual defense of the community. The 
whole of the armed corps shall be clothed, armed and 
subsisted at the expense of the United States, and encamped 
together if practicable, or by legions, which encampments 
shall be denominated the annual camps of discipline. 
The youth of 18 and 19 years shall be disciplined for 30 
days successively in each year; and those of 20 years shall 
be disciplined only for 10 days in each year, which shall 
be the last 10 days of the annual encampment." 

A FUTILE SUBSTITUTE 

Congress rejected Washington's plan, and thereby entailed 
upon the country loss and disaster inestimable — as we 
shall see. Instead, it enacted the stupid and stultifying 
militia law of 1792, contemplation of which reminds us 
of the genius who was ''in favor of the law but against its 
enforcement." In brief, it declared that all citizens were 
liable to be called for military service, but it omitted to 
330 



UNIVERSAL MILITARY SERVICE 

provide any means for thus calling them, or for preparing 
them to render efficient service. It declared that every 
able-bodied male citizen between the ages of 18 and 45 
was a member of the militia. Those who voluntarily formed 
themselves into military companies for training were called 
the organized militia, while all the rest were the unorganized 
militia. As not one in a thousand voluntarily entered 
the organized militia, the nation was practically left unpre- 
pared for war, and its citizens in a condition in which, 
as Lee said in the words already quoted, it would be murder 
to send them into the field. 

The result of this fatuous policy was seen before that 
generation had passed away. In our second war with 
Great Britain, with two or three exceptions, the perform- 
ances of our army of raw recruits were disgraceful. Pol- 
troonery and rout were the order of the day. When a 
smaU British force approached the national capital, it 
found that city "defended" by two or three times its number 
of American troops. Yet the latter, under the eyes of the 
President himself, fired one volley and then fled in dis- 
graceful rout, like frightened rabbits, abandoning the 
capital to the foe. The one real victory was won at the 
very end of the war, indeed after the treaty of peace had 
been signed; by which time, after two and a half years of 
war, the troops had become disciplined and hardened 
and therefore efficient. Had the troops at Washington 
been of the quality of those at New Orleans, the nation 
would not have suffered the indelible disgrace of having 
its capital betrayed into the hands of an invading foe. 
Yet with fatuous folly, in all the years since, we have busied 
ourselves with raging against the vandalism of the invaders 
in burning our public buildings, and have had nothing to 
say about the poltroonery of our own troops or the crass 

331 



UNIVERSAL MILITARY SERVICE 



stupidity of the system which thus entrusted the safety 
of the country to unprepared greenhorns. 

Jefferson's change of policy 
Jefferson was at first a pacifist, beheving in neither army 
nor navy. So when a United States ship was attacked 
unawares by a British ship, riddled with shot and shell, 
and men were taken from it by force, his only reply was to 
order all American ships to stay in port, where they would 
not get hurt. Also, at first Jefferson opposed the building 
of cities, opposed the establishment of manufactures, 
opposed commerce, and hoped for a revolution every twenty 
years. But he got over all those crazy notions of his salad 
days. The disgraceful fiascoes of our militia warfare in 
1812-14 opened his eyes. From his retirement at Mon- 
ticello he wrote to Monroe, regretting that the latter's 
plan of introducing here Napoleon's conscription system 
had not been adopted: 

''Nothing more wise or efficient could have been imagined 
than what you proposed. It would have filled our ranks 
with regulars, and that, too, by throwing a just share of the 
burthen on the purses of those persons who are exempt 
either by age or office; it would have rendered our militia 
... a nation of warriors. But the go-by seems to have 
been given to your proposition, and longer sufferance is 
necessary to force us to what is best. We seem equally 
incorrigible. . . ." 

And again he wrote to Monroe: 

''We must train and classify the whole of our male citizens, 
and make military instruction a part of collegiate education. 
We can never be safe until this is done." 
332 



UNIVERSAL MILITARY SERVICE 

OTHER AUTHORITIES FOR PREPAREDNESS 

Both the Adamses, Madison and Monroe favored uni- 
versal mihtary training and service. So did Jackson, the 
founder of modern democracy. He urged in his message 
of December, 1835, that the whole body of the male popu- 
lation be organized and classified for training and service. 
''A classification of the population," he wrote, '^ offers the 
most obvious means of effecting this organization. Such 
a division may be made as will be just to all by trans- 
ferring each at a proper period of life from one class to 
another and by calling first for the service of that class, 
whether for instruction or action, which from age is quaU- 
fied for the duty and may be called to perform it with the 
least injury to themselves or the public. 

''Should the danger ever become so imminent as to 
require additional force the other classes in succession 
would be ready for the call." 

THE TRADITIONAL POLICY ABANDONED 

Such was the policy of the founders of the repubhc. 
Such, then, was the traditional policy of the republic. 
But it was abandoned; or, rather, it was never fulfilled. 
The need of it was bitterly felt in the War of 1812, when 
the great majority of our land operations were as disgrace- 
ful and as disastrous as our achievements on the sea were 
brilliant. Despite these admonitions and that example, 
however, the policy was neglected and abandoned. There 
was little or no attempt made to give the militia universal 
training, and the standing army was reduced to a merely 
nominal strength. 

The numbers of troops engaged in our various wars, 
including re-enlistments, have been as follows: 

Revolution, 1775-83; 309,791. Northwestern Indian, 

333 



UNIVERSAL MILITARY SERVICE 

1790-95; 8,983. France, 1798-1800; 4,593. Tripoli, 
1801-05; 3,330. Indian (Harrison), 1811-13; 910. War 
of 1812, 1812-15; 576,622. Creek Indian, 1813-14; 
13,781. Seminole, 1817-18; 6,911. Winnebago (Wis.), 

1827; 1,416. Sac and Fox (lU.), 1831; . Black Hawk, 

1832; 6,465. Cherokee removal, 1833-39; 9,494. Semi- 
nole (Fla.), 1835-42; 41,122; Sabine Indian, 1836-37; 
4,429. Creek (Fla.), 1836-37; 13,418. 'Tatriot" (frontier), 
1838-39; 1,500. Seminole (Fla.), 1842-58; Mexico, 1846- 
48; 112,230. Cayuse Indian (Ore.), 1848; 1,116. Texas 
Indian, 1849-56; 4,243. Apache (Utah), 1849-55; 2,561. 
California Indian, 1849-55; 265. Utah Indian, 1851-53; 
540. Oregon- Washington Indian, 1851-56; 5,145. Co- 
manche, 1854; 503. Seminole, 1855-58; 2,687. Civil War, 
1861-66; 2,778,304. Spanish- American, 1898-99; 312,523. 
Phihppine, 1899-1902; 140,038. Pekin (China) expedition, 
1900-01; 6,913. Grand total, 4,371,839. 

In the principal wars these figures represented chiefly 
volunteers, and the numbers were ludicrously dispropor- 
tionate to the efficiency of the service. Thus in the Revolu- 
tion and in the War of 1812 it is doubtful if at any one 
time we ever had of effective troops in the field more than 
one-tenth of the numbers mentioned. 

ORIGIN OF THE VOLUNTEER DELUSION 

We may trace the origin of the insane delusion concerning 
the efficiency of volunteers and raw levies to our first impor- 
tant battle. Bunker Hill. ''The Americans," says Greene 
in his military history of the Revolution, ''without proper 
organization, equipment, or supplies, had fought the best 
regular troops of Europe, and had repulsed them until 
their ammunition gave out . . . and they were convinced 
that they could do it again, and that regular organization 
334 



UNIVERSAL MILITARY SERVICE 

was not necessary — a conviction which they tenaciously 
held to throughout the Revolution; and then transmitted 
to their descendants, who have believed it almost to this 
day." 

That delusion survived the disaster and disgrace of the 
War of 1812, because of the fine achievements of our navy, 
and because the fact that the British army was chiefly 
occupied with beating Bonaparte in Spain and Flanders 
enabled us to come out of that war without the sound 
drubbing that we otherwise would doubtless have received. 
Of course at Bunker Hill we won because of the monumental 
folly of the British in walking into a trap and of attempting 
to storm, with solid columns, an entrenched position. But 
in every war which we have fought we have suffered grossly 
and inexcusably, from lack of preparedness and from our 
fatuous dependence upon untrained men. 

UNIVERSAL SERVICE DEMOCRATIC 

It should of course be perfectly obvious, without argu- 
ment or explication, that universal military service is not 
only quite compatible with democratic institutions but also 
is actually demanded by them. If all men are regarded as 
equal, in the sight of the law, they must be equal in respon- 
sibility and duties as well as in rights and privileges. If 
they are equal in their enjoyment of the service and the 
protection of the government, they must be equal in their 
service to and their support of the government, and they 
must be these things and do these things at all times, in 
war as well as in peace. These principles need no demon- 
stration. They are axiomatic. 

Moreover, since the republic prepares its citizens, by 
compulsory universal education, for the duties of citi- 
zenship in peace, it is similarly legitimate and indeed 

335 



UNIVERSAL MILITARY SERVICE 

imperative for it to prepare them for their duties in 
war, by giving them universal mihtary instruction and 
training. 

THE SWISS EXAMPLE 

An example of universal service in a democracy is pre- 
sented by Switzerland. That republic has long been 
probably the most perfectly prepared nation in the world, 
for military defense. Yet in no other country has mili- 
tarism less interfered with industry and social economy, 
and in no other land is the burden of military expenses 
lighter. Under the Swiss constitution, with the exceptions 
of certain specified classes, such as federal officials, postal 
employes, police, clergymen and teachers, etc., all men are 
liable for military duty between the ages of 20 and 48. 
The army is divided into three classes: The elite, from 20 
to 32; the landwehr, from 32 to 40; and the landsturm, 
from 40 to 48 years of age. At 20 every young Swiss reports 
for admittance to service, and if he passes a satisfactory 
examination he is enrolled and receives a uniform, rifle and 
full equipment, which he takes home and keeps during his 
whole period of service, being responsible for their good 
care, under heavy penalty. 

He is then sent to one of the schools for recruits, where he 
serves under an expert corps of instructors. Each day at 
the school means eight hours of hard drill and other work, 
including night-firing and entrenching. During the first 
year he serves thus 65 days if he is in the infantry and 
90 days if he is in the cavalry. After that year he is called 
out for from 11 to 14 days every other year while he is in 
the elite. In the landwehr he is called out only once, for 
11 days. In the landsturm he is called out only in case 
of war. 
336 



UNIVERSAL MILITARY SERVICE 

SCHOOLBOY TRAINING 

The recruit on entering the service at 20 years of age is 
by no means raw material. Up to 15 years of age every 
boy is compelled to attend school, in which there is sys- 
tematic physical training intended to give preparation for 
military service. There is also an elaborate cadet corps 
system, which boys are encouraged to join, and in which 
they are instructed in rifle-firing and other military details. 
At 20 the average young Swiss is already expert in the man- 
ual of arms and in many of the duties of a soldier's life. 

The cost of all this to the nation is trifling, the total cost 
of the military establishment being only about $13,000,000 
a year. The cost of each recruit, for training and main- 
tenance during his first year's period of service, is $13. 
He serves without pay, save for 16 cents a day for spending 
money, and the government pays for his uniform, rifle and 
other equipment, transportation, lodgings and food. The 
net result is that Switzerland, one of the most peaceful and 
least mihtaristic countries in the world, is a nation of 
efficient, disciplined and expert soldiers. 

Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, though 
British colonies, are really republics; certainly they are no 
less democracies than the United States; and they have 
systems of universal service. In Australia military train- 
ing and service is compulsory upon all boys and men 
between the ages of 12 and 26. From 12 to 14 they are 
junior cadets; from 14 to 18 senior cadets; and from 18 
to 26 they are citizen forces, armed, equipped and dis- 
ciplined precisely as in the regular British army. 

The suggestion of what such a system would mean to 
this country — of what it would be meaning to us now, if 
it had been in force for the last score of years — is uncom- 
monly profitable for consideration. 

22 337 



<* 



Chapter XXVIII 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE IN THE WAR 

Fears that Our Participation in the War Might Compromise the Monroe 
Doctrine — Talk about Abandonment of Our "Policy of Isolation" — What the 
Monroe Doctrine Is, and What It Means — How It was Interpreted by Those 
Who Made It — No "Policy of Isolation" to be Found in It or Elsewhere — The 
United States a Full-sized Nation, "Able to Do AU Things that Free and Independent 
States May of Right Do." 

IS THE Monroe Doctrine abrogated by our entry into 
the war? The question is still asked, seriously if not 
wisely. So it was asked, years ago, if our conquest of 
Spain in the Philippines had not violated and abrogated 
that doctrine. Perhaps we might, Yankee fashion, answer 
the question by asking another. Did the Monroe Doctrine 
abrogate or forfeit our rights as a sovereign nation? 

Beyond doubt, a certain fear that we should thus destroy 
that doctrine was conspicuous among the forces which 
so long restrained our government from declaring the 
war to which it had so abundant provocation. Even 
the President of the United States was troubled with such 
forebodings, when he intimated that we should perhaps 
have to abandon our traditional policy of isolation in 
order to take part in the affairs of the world for the sake 
of our own rights and of world-wide humanity. 

NO ISOLATION POLICY 

The fact is, however, that the United States has no 
''policy of isolation." It never had one. It never con- 
sistently practiced one. No trace of one is to be found, 
338 



MONROE DOCTRINE IN THE WAR 

in either the public pronouncements or the acts of the 
nation. Let us begin \\ith the Declaration of Independ- 
ence. It specifically asserts that the United States, ''as 
free and independent States, have full power to levy war, 
conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce 
and to do all other acts and things which independent 
States may of right do." Certainly there is no hint of 
isolation there, but rather an assertion of our equal status 
as a nation among the nations of the world, competent to 
participate in any and all international affairs. 

''no entangling alliances" 
Washington and Jefferson are named as sponsors for 
an isolation policy; but they were not. Washington 
warned the nation against permanent alliances with 
European powers, but he made it clear that his advice 
was intended merely for that time, while we were com- 
paratively small and weak, and in the same breath he 
cordially sanctioned temporary alliances for special pur- 
poses. Jefferson also spoke epigrammaticaUy against 
"entangling alliances," but in almost the next breath 
he advocated a hard and fast offensive and defensive 
alliance with Great Britain, and twenty years later, in 
the ripeness of his retirement as the "Sage of Monticello," 
he again recommended a permanent alliance with that 
country in order to detach it from the Continental system 
and to oppose the Holy AlHance with an Anglo-American 
alliance. His notable declarations of policy were thus 
at least two to one against "isolation." 

THE MONROE DOCTRINE 

If we come on down to the Monroe Doctrine, which is 
perhaps most frequently referred to as the basis of our 

339 



MONROE DOCTRINE IN THE WAR 

"isolation" policy, what do we find? Not a hint nor a 
suggestion of ''isolation," either in the doctrine itself or 
in the authoritative comments upon it which were made 
at that time. In his message Monroe expressed ardent 
sympathy with Greece in her struggle for independence, 
and a deep interest in the unhappy condition of Spain 
and Portugal. There was no hint at isolation, or even 
at neutrality. Then he proceeded with the doctrine: 

''In the wars of the European Powers, in matters relating 
to themselves, we have never taken any part, nor does it 
comport with our policy so to do. It is only when our 
rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent 
injuries or make preparations for our defense. . . . With 
the existing colonies or dependencies of any European 
Power we have not interfered, and shall not interfere. 
. . . Our policy in regard to Europe . . . remains the 
same, which is not to interfere in the internal concerns of any 
of its Powers, . . . and to preserve those relations by a 
frank, firm and manly policy, meeting in all instances the just 
claims of every power, submitting to injuries from none." 

NEITHER ISOLATION NOR MEDDLING 

There is no "policy of isolation" there, unless indeed 
it be isolation for a nation to refrain from being a busy- 
body and a meddler in matters which are none of its busi- 
ness. It does not comport with our policy to take part 
in matters relating solely to other powers. Our policy 
is not to interfere "in the internal concerns" of other 
powers. All that is quite true. But how about matters 
which do not relate solely to European powers, and con- 
cerns which are not internal but external? The doctrine 
leaves us perfectly free to take any action which may be 
dictated by our own interest and welfare. 
340 



MONROE DOCTRINE IN THE WAR 

Jefferson's view of the doctrine 
So much for the doctrine itself, in letter and in spirit. 
In the Rush-Canning and Rush-Adams correspondence, 
which preceded and led to it, there was not the remotest 
hint at ''isolation," but, rather, some very direct intima- 
tions of prospective alliance between America and Great 
Britain. Before issuing the doctrine Monroe sought 
the advice of Jefferson and Madison, and they both gave 
it, voluminously, but neither hinted at isolation. Instead, 
both directly and emphatically recommended and antici- 
pated the contrary, and approved the proposed doctrine, 
because they regarded it as a step toward if not a practical 
achievement of a permanent alliance between America 
and Great Britain. It is true that Jefferson said that 
"our first and fundamental maxim should be never to 
entangle ourselves in the broils of Europe. . . . America 
has a set of interests distinct from those of Europe, and 
particularly her own. She should therefore have a system 
of her own, separate and apart from that of Europe." 
But that does not mean isolation, any more than it means 
isolation for one family not to meddle in the wrangles of 
another family, but to have its own domestic system, 
separate from that of any other household. To refrain 
from being a meddler one need not be a hermit. 

A VIGOROUS POLICY 

But note, further, what Jefferson said in the very next 
paragraph: ''One nation, most of all, could disturb us in 
this pursuit; she now offers to lead, aid, and accompany 
us in it. . . . Great Britain is the nation which can do 
us the most harm of any or all on earth; and with her 
on our side we need not fear the whole world. With her, 
then, we should most sedulously cherish a cordial friend- 

341 



MONROE DOCTRINE IN THE WAR 

ship; and nothing would tend more to knit our affections 
than to be fighting once more, side by side, in the same 
cause. ... If we can effect a division in the body of the 
European powers, and draw over to our side its most 
powerful member, surely we should do it." In other words, 
we were to seek an Anglo-American alliance with which 
to oppose the Holy Alliance. 

MADISON ON ALLIANCES 

That was Jefferson's policy. Madison's was the same. 
"It is particularly fortunate," he said, ''that the policy 
of Great Britain has presented a co-operation for an object 
the same with ours. With that co-operation we have nothing 
to fear from the rest of Europe. There ought not, therefore, 
to be any backwardness in meeting her in the way she has 
proposed . . . Will it not be honorable to our country to 
invite the British Government to extend the 'avowed dis- 
approbation ' of the project against the Spanish colonies to 
the enterprise of France against^ Spain herself, and even to 
join in some declaratory act in behalf of the Greeks?" 

Thus while Jefferson was advocating an alliance with 
Great Britain, Madison, the most scholarly and thoughtful 
of men, was suggesting that we should utilize that alliance 
not merely for the protection of the new republics in Spanish 
America, but also for intervention — ^Anglo-American inter- 
vention — between France and Spain, and between Turkey 
and Greece. For while he spoke primarily of mere words 
of "disapprobation" of France's aggressions upon Spain, 
and of a mere "declaratory act" in favor of Greece, he 
recognized the fact that such declarations might imply 
a pledge to foUow them up with war; in w^hich case, he 
said, "we ought to compare the good to be done with the 
httle injur}^ to be apprehended to the United States, 
342 



MONROE DOCTRINE IN THE WAR 

shielded as their interests would be by the power and the 
fleets of Great Britain united with their own." In short, 
we were to join Great Britain in waging war against France 
for the protection of Spain, and in waging war against 
Turkey for the liberation of Greece! Yet people prate 
about our ''traditional policy of isolation!" 

NATIONAL ACTS AND PRACTICE 

If from these most weighty and authoritative declara- 
tions, which however are nothing but declarations, we 
turn to concrete acts, not only performed by the President 
but also approved by Congress or by the Senate, what 
do we find? Note the case of Morocco. In 1880 we united 
with the European powers in a formal treaty for the pro- 
tection of foreigners in that empire, and in 1906 we entered 
at Algeciras that monstrous embroilment of the powers 
which was one of the most direct preludes to the present 
European war, and we took almost a predominant part 
in defining and regulating the rival interests of European 
powers in that African country. Or what shall we say 
of the two treaties, or sets of treaties, at The Hague? 
The United States took a leading part in those conferences 
and in the making of those treaties, side by side with the 
European powers; and they were and are treaties relating 
not merety to our own concerns but to the general inter- 
national interests of the whole world. Surely, it was not 
an empty form for this country to sign and ratify those 
treaties. And surely in our doing so there could not have 
been the slightest trace of "isolation." 

THE TRUE RULE OF CONDUCT 

It is not to be contended that we should embroil our- 
selves in purely European affairs, or that we should hastily 

343 



MONROE DOCTRINE IN THE WAR 

enter into alliances with any other powers in the world. 
But it cannot be too strongly insisted upon that the 
Declaration of Independence is not mere '' buncombe" 
when it says that this country has "full power to contract 
alliances," and that it was not a purposeless form for the 
Constitution to invest the President with the power "to 
make treaties" in the unlimited sense of the term. It 
may not be expedient for us to enter into alliances. A 
great authority of old reminded us that things which are 
lawful are sometimes not expedient. But nothing can 
be more certain than that there is and has been no "policy 
of isolation" which may now be abandoned, and that 
there is nothing in tradition or precedent or declaration 
or theory or practice to restrain us for one moment from 
making any alliances or doing any other lawful act which 
may be expedient and for the interest of our own security 
and welfare. The United States is not a dwarf nor a cripple, 
nor yet a hermit, among the nations of the world. 



344 



Chapter XXIX 
THE FLAG AND ITS ANTHEM 

The Stars and Stripes on the European Battle Line — Flying Above the 
Offices of the British Government — The King of England Singing "The Star 
Spangled Banner" — The Dramatic Story of the National Anthem — Conceived 
and Born in Battle — The Only Important National Anthem in the World Solely 
Inspired by the National Flag — The Story of the Stars and Stripes — The 
Grand Union Flag Derived from the British — The Stars and Stripes a Second 
Derivation from the British Flag — Early Use of the Stars and Stripes — Carried 
to European Waters by Paul Jones — The Flag of Fifteen Stripes — Some Artistic 
Anachronisms — The Present Flag, "and Long May It Wave!" 

THE STARS AND STRIPES are on the firing line of the 
European war, and will be "in at the death" when Hohen- 
zollern despotism and Prussian militarism and all the 
bestial anarchism of '^Kultur" are finally rounded up and 
crushed by the triumphant democracy of both hemispheres. 
The entry of our banner into the world war was signally 
welcomed by our allies, particularly in its being raised to 
the highest place of honor above the Parliament Houses 
and all the government offices in London. During the 
great public demonstrations of "American Day" in the 
British capital, April 20, 1917, the King of England was 
heard to join heartily in the singing of "The Star Spangled 
Banner," an anthem which had been written as the Amer- 
ican war song in a war waged against England more than 
a century before I 

These stirring and epochal incidents make it fitting to 
recall the story of the flag and of the anthem; the one 
conceived and born during our first war and the other 
during our second war; and the two associated with peculiar 

345 



THE FLAG AND ITS ANTHEM 

intimacy because of the fact that the anthem, alone among 
the important national anthems of the world, was inspired 
by and is indeed essentially a tribute to the flag. 

key's mission to the BRITISH FLEET 

The story of the song is briefl}' told. Francis Scott 
Key, a brilliant member of a noted family, the son of a 
gallant officer in the Revolution, was at that time thirty- 
five years old and had already risen into eminence as a 
lawyer at the national capital. He was looked upon as 
one of the most important and influential men in his part 
of Maryland. Now at Upper Marlboro there was a some- 
what choleric old physician, of excellent skill and abundant 
patriotism, Dr. William Beanes. To his house came some 
of the British forces which raided the shores of the Chesa- 
peake and burned the capitol at Washington, and the 
officers insisted upon dining at his table and making his 
office their headquarters. This he was unable to pre- 
vent, and so he acquiesced, at heart grudgingly and indig- 
nantly, but outwardly with true Maryland hospitality. 
But after the officers had gone, there came some scurvy 
stragglers and camp followers, much the worse for fire- 
water, free with insults and inclined toward loot. These 
Dr. Beanes properly clapped into jail for safe keeping. 
But when the British learned this they sent back a strong 
force, released the captives, and took Dr. Beanes aboard 
the flagship of their fleet, with the cheerful assurance that 
in a day or two he would infallibly be hanged at the yard- 
arm. At this Key was besought to go to Admiral Cochrane 
and secure the doctor's release. It was a perilous and 
unpromising errand, but Key undertook it. He reached 
the British fleet under a flag of truce on the morning of 
September 6, 1814, and was well received. It did not 
346 



THE FLAG AND ITS ANTHEM 

take him long to secure the release of Dr. Beanes. But 
just at that time the British were preparing for an attack 
upon Baltimore which they meant to make a surprise, and 
in order that they might not disclose what they had seen 
of these preparations, both Key and Beanes were required 
to remain aboard the flagship until after the attack had 
been made, and they were told that they would thus have 
an unsurpassed opportunity to witness the reduction of 
Fort McHenry and the capture of the city. 

"our flag was still there" 
That attack was made as per schedule on September 
13th, in the evening, but it did not result as the British 
had expected. On the contrary, the fort, under the com- 
mand of the gallant Armistead, repulsed the fleet and kept 
its flag flying in triumph all through the night of battle. 
It was while he anxiously watched this fight from the 
deck of the British flagship that Key conceived the song, 
and jotted down rough notes of it on the back of an old 
letter, to be completed the next day. It may be observed 
that the song was made quite realistic. The "rockets' red 
glare, the bombs bursting in air" were very real and 
numerous that night, and they gave ample proof that 
"our flag was still there;" and the return of daylight 
confirmed that proof. 

The next day the British realized that their attack had 
failed; and if, made as a surprise, it had been unsuccess- 
ful, there would be no hope of success in openly renew- 
ing it. So they sent Key and Dr. Beanes ashore, and 
sailed away. Key went to Baltimore and showed Judge 
Nicholson the draft of the song, and at Nicholson's urging 
it was at once given to a printer and handbill copies of 
it were struck off and distributed about the city and in 

347 



THE FLAG AND ITS ANTHEM 

the American army, where, sung to the English air of 
"To Anacreon in Heaven/' it quickly gained great popu- 
larity. It was published in The Baltimore American 
on September 21st, with a note setting forth the circum- 
stances of its origin but not mentioning the name of the 
writer. 

THE GRAND UNION FLAG 

The evolution of the Stars and Stripes from the British 
flag began in 1774, at Taunton, Mass., when the patriots 
raised the British flag with the motto ''Liberty and Union" 
added; union then meaning continued union with Great 
Britain, and liberty meaning the same liberty for the colo- 
nists as the people of England enjoyed. 

Next came the memorable step of January 2, 1776, when 
George Washington, who six months before had assumed 
chief command of the united colonial armies at Cambridge, 
raised there a new flag of his own devising. This was the 
so-called Grand Union flag, and it consisted of thirteen 
stripes, alternately red and white, with the union jack 
in canton. That is to say, it was exactly like the Stars 
and Stripes, with the union jack in place of the stars; 
or it was like the British flag, with stripes instead of the 
plain red field. In brief, it was half British and half 
American. 

That Grand Union flag was carried for more than a 
year at the beginning of the Revolution: at Boston, at 
New York, Long Island, Harlem Heights, White Plains, 
Trenton and Princeton. Leutze's fine painting of ''Wash- 
ington Crossing the Delaware " shows the Stars and Stripes 
carried on his boat, but the Stars and Stripes did not 
then exist and did not come into being until months 
later. 
348 



THE FLAG AND ITS ANTHEM 

THE FIRST STARS AND STRIPES 

But after Trenton and Princeton it was deemed by- 
Congress necessary that we should have another national 
flag, without the British feature of the union jack, and 
Washington, then spending the winter between Bound 
Brook and Morristown, N. J., was commissioned to design 
one, with Robert Morris and Colonel George Ross as his 
colleagues. Washington simply took the Grand Union 
flag, struck out the union jack from the canton, and sub- 
stituted a circle of thirteen white stars on a blue canton, 
and the Stars and Stripes stood revealed. This was the 
second step in the evolution from the British flag. 

There is no reason for doubting that the first sample 
flag was made by Mrs. Elizabeth Ross, widow of John 
Ross, at No. 239 Arch Street, Philadelphia. We may 
also accept the entirely plausible story that Washington 
drew the design with the six-pointed stars of English 
heraldry, and that Mrs. Ross suggested the change to five- 
pointed stars; for which we have much cause to be grate- 
ful to that clever woman. It is indisputable that on June 
14, 1777, John Adams proposed and the Continental Con- 
gress adopted a resolution that 

"The flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen 
stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen 
stars, white on a blue field, representing a new constellation." 

FIRST USE OF THE FLAG 

There has been some dispute as to when the flag was 
first publicly displayed and used, but the overwhelming 
weight of evidence indicates that it was at Fort Schuyler, 
formerly called Fort Stanwix, on the site of the present 
city of Rome, N. Y. 

The flag was not officially promulgated until September 

349 



THE FLAG AND ITS ANTHEM 

3, 1777, after which date it speedily came into general use 
in both^he army and navy, as well as in civil life. It was 
first raised at sea on a warship when John Paul Jones sailed 
with the sloop Ranger from Portsmouth, N. H., on 
a memorable raid upon the coasts of the British Isles. 
That was on November 1, 1777, and the flag was specially 
made for Jones by some of the ladies of Portsmouth. Thirty 
days later he was at Nantes, France, first carrying the flag 
into a European port and securing for it recognition and a 
salute from a foreign power. 

THE FLAG OF FIFTEEN STRIPES 

The flag presently began to increase and multiply. Ver- 
mont came into the Union in 1791, and Kentucky in 1792, 
and wanted some recognition; wherefore on January 
13, 1794, it was enacted that the flag should thereafter 
consist of fifteen stars and fifteen stripes, with the blue 
canton resting on the fifth red stripe and the stars in three 
horizontal rows of five each. That was our flag for twenty- 
three years, including some of the most heroic and historic 
in our national life. When ''The Star Spangled Banner" 
was written, ours was a flag of fifteen stars and fifteen 
stripes. The painting of Perry's victory, which hangs in the 
Capitol, shows another anachronism, the flag having only 
thirteen stripes. 

THE FINAL DESIGN OF THE FLAG 

But even when that change was made in 1794 there were 
those who perceived its folly, and protested against it, on 
the ground that further changes would have to be made, 
so that for a hundred years the flag would be unsettled and 
varying. Surely enough, in 1796 Tennessee was admitted 
to the Union, Ohio in 1803, Louisiana in 1812, Indiana 
350 



THE FLAG AND ITS ANTHEM 

in 1816, and Mississippi in 1817; so that there were five 
new states without representation in the flag. That would 
not do, and so Peter H. Wendover, a Representative of 
New York, secured the appointment of a committee, which 
on January 2, 1817, reported a bill for remodehng the 
flag. This report was based upon suggestions which were 
made to the committee at Wendover's request by Captain 
Samuel Chester Reid, of the navy, the commander of the 
famous privateer General Armstrong in the War of 1812; 
and it provided for a flag of thirteen stripes, as at first, 
representing the thirteen original states, and of twenty 
stars, representing the increased number of states, a new 
star to be added thereafter for each new state, the star 
to be added on the Fourth of July following the admission 
of the state. That was enacted on April 4, 1818, and 
remains to this day the flag law of the nation. i 

Thus on July 4, 1818, the flag assumed the form of thir- 
teen stripes and twenty stars. The number of stars there- 
after increased automatically on the Fourth of July of 
each year named, on account of the admission of the states 
named, as follows: Twenty-one in 1819, for Illinois; 23 
in 1820, Alabama and Maine; 24 in 1822, Missouri; 25 ia 
1836, Arkansas; 26 in 1837, Michigan; 27 in 1845, Florida; 
28 in 1846, Texas; 29 in 1847, Iowa; 30 in 1848, Wiscon- 
sin; 31 in 1851, California; 32 in 1858, Minnesota; 33 in 
1859, Oregon; 34 in 1861, Kansas; 35 in 1863, West Vir- 
ginia; 36 in 1865, Nevada; 37 in 1867, Nebraska; 38 in 
1877, Colorado; 43 in 1890, North Dakota, South Dakota, 
Montana, Washington and Idaho; 44 in 1891, Wyoming; 
45 in 1896, Utah; 46 in 1908, Oklahoma; 48 in 1912, 
Arizona and New Mexico. Thus in 140 years the Stars 
and Stripes has assumed no fewer than twenty-five dif- 
ferent forms. As it is today, LONG MAY IT WAVE! 

351 



EPILOGUE 



THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER 

Oh! say, can you see, hy the dawn's early light, 

What so proudly we hailed at the twilighVs last gleaming? 

Whose broad stripes and bright stars thro^ the perilous fight, 
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming. 

And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, 

Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there. 
Oh! say, does the Star Spangled Banner yet wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? 

On the shore, dimly seen thro' the mist of the deep. 

Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes. 
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep, 
, As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? 
Now it catches the gleam of the morni7ig's first beam. 
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream. 

'Tis the Star Spangled Banner, oh! long may it wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! 

Oh! thus be it ever when freemen shall stand 
Between their lov'd homes and the war's desolation. 

Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n-rescued land 
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation. 

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, 

And this be our motto, "In God is our trust." 

And the Star Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! 

352 



^^ 



H . 46- 79 










■^^ 



^0 



"> 



,^ „..o 






%,^'' 










h\'. ^>ft //o o -V -V 




A-^ 






^-^^^ 




y^ Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 

(/> Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 

^^ Treatment Date: MAt 2001 

'^o PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATIOM 

'*0 111 Thomson Park Drive 

(-> Cranberry Township. PA 16066 

^ (724) 779-2111 



















^, 



oV 







/#%v DEC 73 



N. MANCHESTER, 
INDIANA 46962 



0* 




